BrickJournal #58

The Magazine for LEGO® Enthusiasts of All Ages!

Issue 58 • August 2019

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Building LEGO® Warbirds Past and Present!

with James Cherry and Ralph Savelsburg!

Corvin Stichert’s Seraphim!

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Issue 58 • August 2019

Contents

From the Editor................................................ 2

People

João Eínon: Secret Weapon Builder............................... 3 Tan Yi Liang: Mechs Against NF2...................................... 6

Building

Nicholas Kramer: Builder of Warbirds and Warships...........10 You Can Build It: Mini V-22 Osprey........................................14 Building the Grumman X-29.....................22 The Aircraft and Helicopters of Carrier Air Wing Eight..........................29 Corvin Stichert: Building Modern & Future Planes........36 James Cherry: Props, Jets and Bricks!...............................44 Minifigure Customization 101: Usurping a Theme – Evil Soliloquy, Act II: GEAR!.....................52 You Can Build It: Mini Boeing 747 “Jumbo” Jet..................59

Community From LEGO Education: Introducing SPIKE Prime..........................64 Review: Building LEGO Dream Cars with Mattia Zamboni................................70 Community Ads.............................................78 Last Word..........................................................79 Bricks in the Middle......................................80

From the Editor: I love planes. But they are a real pain in the rear to build in LEGO. So I contacted a bunch of plane buiilders to show their work, and maybe give some advice.

August 2019 Issue 58

They did. And they showed their models here. There’s something for any scale from minifgure scale to larger, and in the other direction, microplanes.

Publisher John Morrow

Editor in Chief Joe Meno

Photography Editor Geoff Gray Proofreader John Morrow

Japanese Bureau Editor Nathan Bryan West Coast Editors Ashley Glennon

LEGO Ideas Correspondent Glen Wadleigh Contributors: Jared Burks, James Cherry, Christopher Deck, João Eínon, Kevin Hinkle, Nicholas Kramer, Tan Yi Liang, Ralph Savelsberg, Hannah Stabingas, Corbin Stichert, and Greg Hyland.

Many thanks to LEGO Education for providing information SPIKE Prime.

In all of this, however, one builder wasn’t able to complete his model in time. Michael Brown’s Vandy One F-14 Tomcat is still being worked on. When complete, it will have lightiing, working landing gear, and video displays in the cockpit. Because of all of the complexity behind it, though, the plane has progressed slowly in construction. So Vandy One is not in this issue, but will show up in another upcoming edition!

The planes that are in this issue are pretty awesome, so take a look. Hopefully it will get you thinking about building one!

Joe Meno, Editor P.S. Have ideas or comments? Drop me a line at brickjournal@gmail.com. I’m open to suggestions and comments and will do my best to reply.

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About the Cover: James Cherry’s P-51 Mustang graces the top of the cover, with Ralph Savelsberg’s Phantom and Crusader below. The F-14 Tomcat is also a build by Ralph.

Photos prvided by James Cherry and Ralph Savelsberg.

Glossary AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) AFFOL (Adult Female Fan of LEGO) TFFOL (Teen Female Fan of LEGO) NLSO (Non-LEGO Significant Other) MOC (My Own Creation) TLG (The LEGO Group) BURP (Big Ugly Rock Piece) LURP (Little Ugly Rock Piece) POOP (Pieces­—that can be or should be made—Of Other Pieces)

www.LUGNET.com, www.Brickshelf.com, www.peeron.com, www.brickmodder.net www.rustyclank.com

About the Contents: James Cherry’s Phantom Fighter takes the spotlight here.

Photo provided by James Cherry.

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LEGO®, TECHNIC, MINDSTORMS, Belville, Scala, BIONICLE, ExoForce, Mars Mission, World City, and other LEGO theme lines are trademarks of the LEGO Group of companies. All articles, photos, and art are copyright BrickJournal Media, LLC 2011, TwoMorrows Publishing and the respective writers, photographers, and artists. All rights reserved. All trademarked items are the property of their respective owners and licensees. Subscriptions are $62 Economy US, $74 Expedited US, $96 International, or $24 Digital Only and can be purchased at www.twomorrows.com or payment sent to: TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614 USA. The editorial/advertising office address for BrickJournal is: BrickJournal Editor, 9001 Barb Anne Court, Springfield, VA 22152, USA or admin@brickjournal.com. First Printing. Printed in China. ISSN 1941-2347.

BrickJournal and its staff would like to thank the LDraw community for the software it makes available to the community, which we use for making all of the instructions and renderings in this magazine. We would especially like to thank Kevin Clague for his continued upgrades of the LPub tool that is a part of2the LDraw suite. For more information, please visit http://www.ldraw.org.

People

João Eínon with his model.

João Eínon:

Secret Weapon Builder Article by Joe Meno Photography by João Eínon

João Eínon is a 30-year-old Portugese LEGO builder. His job is at the ticket office at Portela Airport, located in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. He’s an AFOL who is a plane builder. His latest model is a huge plane that was a version of a flying aircraft carrier, the Daimler Benz Project C. Before that, he has built other aircraft and military vehicles.

João has always had LEGO in his house. His father and cousins gave him all their LEGO collections, and after that, he continued to buy more and more. Luckily, he never had a Dark Age and always continued to build even when he got older.

However, for many years, he thought that he was the only teenager that continued to build with LEGO. That changed in 2005 when João did a Google search on “LEGO Military” and found Dan Siskind’s BrickMania website. After contacting and talking to him for a little while, Dan explained to João that there were thousands of Adult Fans of LEGO worldwide. Shortly after that, he became a member of the Portugese 0937 Community and since then, he has participated at a number of LEGO events in Portugal, Germany, Denmark, and the United States.

João’s favorite LEGO theme is Classic Pirates, but while he has some of those sets at his home, he always prefers to build his own models, specifically military planes, warships and tanks. This, combined with a video game, inspired him to build the Daimler Benz Project C. Many years ago, he bought the PS2 game Secret Weapons over Normandy, which featured this plane as the final Boss. The real plane was a secret project developed by the Germans at the end of World War II. The plane was designed to carry five manned guided bombs under the wings and then launch them against targets with extreme precision. Luckily this plane never flew, but João was so impressed with the size that he had to eventually make it.

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An overview of Project C.

Building the model was a complex effort. The actual Project C was designed with a W-wing shape, but because he wanted the model to carry the five smaller planes under the wings, it was impossible to build a W-wing because it would have made the structure too weak or too heavy to be stable. Instead, João used a straight wing with internal gears to power the six propellors. The structure of the plane was reinforced to support the mini-planes. Since the actual plane was never built, he also was allowed some creative license and added a few defensive gun turrets for protection.

A rear overview.

Project C under construction.

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Project C missile bombs.

Another model he built was for a group project at BrickFair Virginia 2018: The Vietnam War Collaboration.

This model was actually a layout, with an F-5 fighter-bomber during maintenance at a South Vietnamese airbase.

The layout shows the plane being refueled and rearmed with bombs and missiles, with two barricades on the sides of the plane. During BrickFair 2018, all the members of the collaboration were able to show and talk about their models. It was there that Ralph Savelsberg explained to him that the odd-shaped barricades were designed to protect the planes from schrapnel from enemy mortars.

João’s F-5 diorama.

If you go to João’s Flickr gallery, you’ll see that these two models are only a small sample of what he has built. He’s been building for a while and offers this advice for those builders just starting out: “The best advice I can give is ‘never give up.’ It might take some days, weeks or years, but someday what looked impossible can be a good challenge for tomorrow. I think this plane is a good example— I’ve wanted to build this plane for almost ten years but I was limited by the type of parts available and the overall quality of them.”

Another look at the diorama.

The F-5 fighter-bomber.

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People

KS22 Keisha, Beatus Flamma Pattern.

Tan Yi Liang:

Mechs Against NF2 Article and Art by Tan Yi Liang

Rear view of KS22 Keisha, Shooting Star pattern.

Another view of KS22 Keisha, Beatus Flamma Pattern.

What motivates a builder? What inspires them to make creations? For Tan YL, his current inspiration is a genetic disorder.

Before that, Tan had been building other creations for a while. He’s a 34-year-old Malaysian journalist with an English-language Malaysian newspaper, but he started building around the age of five. He spent more time creating his own models than building sets, as he always found sets to be less fulfilling, and harder than creating new models. For Tan, LEGO has always been about creative expression.

Tan’s main focus initially were conventional and sciencefiction flyers like fighters, starfighters, bombers, and helicopters, as he had a love of aircraft in general. Mecha were actually a sideline to his main interests until 1999, when he discovered the creations of Mladen Pejic. The mecha Mladen built showed Tan what could be done with LEGO given enough practice, passion, and skill. He doesn’t have a favorite theme, but his current favorite set is D.Va and Reinhardt (75973) from LEGO Overwatch.

Tan’s work is never far from his initial inspirations—the vast majority of the mechs he builds are flyers; when he comes up with new designs, he tries to create a seamless blend of a fighter, bomber or gunship and large power armor. He’s also learned a lot since he started posting his models online in 2014, when he built to occupy his time after his girlfriend Keisha Petrus passed away from Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2).

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NF2 is caused by a mutation of a gene in Chromosome 22, and people with this mutation have slow-moving tumors in their brain, spinal cord, and other nerves in their body.

These tumors and the ways they are treated—surgery, radiation therapy, and most recently chemotherapy—often cause someone fighting the disorder to face the challenges posed by deafness, balance issues and limb weakness.

After Keisha’s passing, Tan began sharing his work online in various groups on Facebook with the encouragement of his closest friend, Tharshinaa Chandran. Online, he learned more about building mecha, learning from other mecha builders, including Benjamin Cheh Ming Hann, Kelvin Low, Lu Sim, and Ronald Ramos.

Inspired by Keisha, he began to build to honor the spirit of his friends who live with NF2 and raise awareness of the genetic disorder. Tan created his own theme: The 22 NF2 Regiment, a mech group. In the theme’s backstory, the mechs are used by a mercenary company that plows the profits it makes from its contracts into research that betters the lives of people with NF2 through improved treatment options, and ultimately a cure. In real-life there are non-profit organizations that are fighting for funding to improve research options for NF2, with a non-profit called NF2 BioSolutions (www.nf2biosolutions.org) being at the leading edge, supporting research into therapies that will address the disorder at a fundamental genetic level.

Tan’s latest mecha creations for the 22 NF2 Regiment are dedicated to honor the founders and office-bearers of NF2 BioSolutions as a mark of his deep respect for their drive and commitment to fight the disorder.

Views of KS22 Keisha, Schutzengel pattern.

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Tan chose to honor NF2 fighters through building mecha because many of his friends with the disorder require some form of mobility assistance, such as wheelchairs, rollators or walkers to get around. He imagined a world where exoskeletons—and by extension, mecha—would allow them to walk and perhaps even to fly. All they would have to do is get in, connect the mech to their nervous system, and fire it all up!

Each of his mechs is named after a friend of Tan’s with NF2.

When building each MOC, he tries to capture the defining aspects of the personalities of his friends and incorporate them into the design of the mech in some way.

An example would be the flagship model of his LEGO theme: The KS22 Keisha, which is inspired by his late girlfriend. In building the model, he drew inspiration from something Keisha said in 2012. Back then, she said that “My duels with NF2 have left me scarred, wheelchair-bound and deaf! As bleak as that sounds, my life doesn’t revolved around the hospital. I have never let NF2 stop me from loving my life.” The quote became the basis for a heavily armed, versatile fighter that could keep on fighting even when large chunks are blown off.

KT39 Kcat.

Two views of B1E Bee.

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Views of KZ1E Krizelle.

Another example would be the mech he named after Krizelle Alcantara, a NF2 fighter from the Phillipines who is also a molecular biologist researching the disorder. In coming up with a tribute to her—the KZ1E Krizelle—Tan drew on the fact that science requires patience, steady commitment, deep strength of character, and endurance to see research through; and that is what he tried to convey when imagining a mech that a scientist could strap themselves into when dealing with hazardous materials or dangerous environments.

For mech detailing, Tan uses printed tiles to tell a story on his models; a skull-and-crossbones printed tile is a mark to show that the pilot of the mech lost someone they loved to NF2. Further inspiration comes from the mech designs of BattleTech and the Tau race in Warhammer 40,000, as he is a fan of their tank-like, industrial style. The result is a blend of the future while honoring the present, and presents the dedication Tan has to his friends, and the hope he has in beating NF2.

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Building

The C-47 Skytrain comes to life with motorized propellers.

Nicholas Kramer:

Builder of Warbirds and Warships Interview by Joe Meno Photography provided by Nicholas Kramer

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LEGO fans come from all walks of life and all kinds of jobs. Nicholas Kramer has two jobs: His career as a Deputy Sheriff for a department in Wisconsin, and brick designer and owner/operator of NK Custom Bricks. His company sells custom LEGO kits, including military planes and ships in micro- and minifigure scale. BrickJournal talked to him about his building.

BrickJournal: When did you start LEGO building?

Nicholas Kramer: I built as a kid years ago, but as all childhoods go, life moved on to other interests and responsibilities.

Did you have a Dark Age when you stopped building? If you did, what got you back into building?

Definitely the Dark Ages. I didn’t touch a LEGO from the mid-’90s until March 2015. I got my daughter a Disney LEGO set for us to build together.

The C-47 loading for a drop.

P-51D Mustang “Ferocious Frankie”.

What is your favorite theme?

For actual LEGO kits, I really enjoy the bigger, detailed kits: UCS Star Wars, Expert Creator buildings, and the bigger Technic builds. For my own stuff, aviation is my favorite theme. A large part of my life/education/work/ hobbies have entailed aviation, and WWII warbirds have always held a special place in my heart.

What got you into military building?

After building several “stock” LEGO kits with my daughter, I soon wanted something more challenging and detailed. I started building custom kits by Brickmania and Mechanized Brick. After a bit, I started modifying their kits to put my own spin on them. The P-38 Lightning was my first custom design/build. I remember spending a T-6 Texan.

P-51D Mustang “Happy Jack’s Go Buggy”.

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lot of time trying to get all five Brickarms .50 caliber machine guns and cannon into the nose of that build. It was that kind of problem-solving building that intrigued me.

You build warbirds and warships. Which one do you like most to build?

They both present their own unique challenges in designing and building, both minifig and microscale. I guess I focus on details a lot in my builds and sometimes will sacrifice scale in order to include certain functions/ details into my builds. The Warships are definitely fun to design as they have a lot of details, but I don’t see myself ever building them in minifig scale—even in microscale (1:155 is what I aim for), warships start getting pretty big.

But it’s the Warbirds I love to design and build. I like being able to change the livery/color scheme to try and match actual individual aircraft, rather than a generic model.

Which creation of yours is your favorite?

The P-51D Mustang is my favorite and has seen the most variations and modifications over the past few years. There are so many beautiful liveries/color schemes. I’ve done over 20 different color schemes based on actual Mustangs.

Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer.

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Nicholas’ T-38 model.

I am looking at your T-38 and would like to see some more pics of it. Tell me about how you built it.

My T-38 Talon was initially based off my F-5 Tiger “Mig 28” build. I love seeing the T-38’s fly in to the local airport and thought the unique two-tone grey color scheme would be a new challenge to try. I was also eager to figure out a decaling technique I was starting to use.

What got you into micro building?

As I was working on my A-6 Intruder build, I began playing with how small I could build an A-6 but still make it detailed and recognizable. A few different aircraft designs later, Micro Warbirds were born.

What advice would you give to a starting builder?

Another view of the T-38.

Expand your “available parts” knowledge. See how different pieces can be used and connected. There are so many LEGO pieces out there in different colors and styles that allow for just the right connection, shape, etc.

Not having a certain piece to keep going on a build is frustrating and can stall out a build, but not knowing what is even capable can really limit you. Digital designing is great as you have every piece or color option at your fingertips, but actual bricks can be connected and used in so many ways, often times in ways not capable of being digitally built. By having a detailed part knowledge, you can also improvise shapes and connections when a certain color or part combination is not available, allowing you to “think outside the box.”

You can see more of NK Custom Bricks’ catalog at its website: www.nkcustombricks.com or by scanning this QR code.

Minifigure and microscale A-10 Intruder.

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You Can Build It MINI Model

Mini V-22 Osprey Design by Nicholas Kramer Instructions by Joe Meno The V-22 Osprey is the first production tiltrotor plane. The rotors at the tips of the wings can tilt up to 90 degrees, giving the craft the ability to take off and land like a helicopter.

This lets the Osprey take off and land in a small area. After takeoff, the rotors are tilted forward and the Osprey performs as a plane, with a speed of 310 miles per hour.

The Osprey is in service in the United States Navy and Air Force as a transport craft for troops and equipment. This model by Nichoas Kramer is small-scale, but has tilting rotors. Have fun building it!

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Parts List (Parts can be ordered from Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color) Qty Color 1 Trans Clear 1 Trans Clear 1 Pearl Gold 2 Black 2 Black 1 1 4 2 1 8 11 6 1 4 6 2 1 2 1 2 3 2 8 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 4 4

Part Description 3023.dat Plate 1 x 2 85984.dat Slope Brick 31 1 x 2 x 0.667 90398.dat Minifig Statuette 2780.dat Technic Pin w/Friction and Slots 15790.dat Propellor 3 Blade 9 Diameter with Technic Peghole Black 55298.dat Minifig Tool Screwdriver Black 90370.dat Minifig Microphone Black 98138.dat Tile 1 x 1 Round with Groove Lt Bluish Grey 3020.dat Plate 2 x 4 Lt Bluish Grey 3021.dat Plate 2 x 3 Lt Bluish Grey 3022.dat Plate 2 x 2 Lt Bluish Grey 3023.dat Plate 1 x 2 Lt Bluish Grey 3024.dat Plate 1 x 1 Lt Bluish Grey 3068b.dat Tile 2 x 2 with Groove Lt Bluish Grey 3069b.dat Tile 1 x 2 with Groove Lt Bluish Grey 3070b.dat Tile 1 x 1 with Groove Lt Bluish Grey 3623.dat Plate 1 x 3 Lt Bluish Grey 3795.dat Plate 2 x 6 Lt Bluish Grey 4081b.dat Plate 1 x 1 w/Clip Light Type 2 Lt Bluish Grey 4085c.dat Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Vertical (Thick U-Clip) Lt Bluish Grey 4274.dat Technic Pin 1/2 Lt Bluish Grey 4733.dat Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Four Sides Lt Bluish Grey 6541.dat Technic Brick 1 x 1 with Hole Lt Bluish Grey 11477.dat Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 Lt Bluish Grey 13547.dat Slope Brick Curved 4 x 1 Inverted Lt Bluish Grey 15068.dat Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 x 0.667 Lt Bluish Grey 15573.dat Plate 1 x 2 w/Groove w/1 Centre Stud, without Understud Lt Bluish Grey 18677.dat Plate 1 x 2 with Offset Peghole on Underside Lt Bluish Grey 24299.dat Wing 2 x 2 Left Lt Bluish Grey 24307.dat Wing 2 x 2 Right Lt Bluish Grey 28192.dat Slope Brick 45 2 x 1 with Cutout and without Stud Lt Bluish Grey 34103.dat Plate 1 x 3 with 2 Studs Offset Lt Bluish Grey 41769.dat Wing 2 x 4 Right Lt Bluish Grey 41770.dat Wing 2 x 4 Left Lt Bluish Grey 42446.dat Bracket 1 x 1 - 1 x 1 Lt Bluish Grey 43857.dat Technic Beam 2 Lt Bluish Grey 44728.dat Bracket 1 x 2 - 2 x 2 Lt Bluish Grey 58176.dat Cylinder Domed 1 x 1 x 1.667 with Bar Lt Bluish Grey 61678.dat Slope Brick Curved 4 x 1 Lt Bluish Grey 63864.dat Tile 1 x 3 with Groove Lt Bluish Grey 85861.dat Plate 1 x 1 Round w/Open Stud Lt Bluish Grey 87079.dat Tile 2 x 4 with Groove Lt Bluish Grey 87087.dat Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side Lt Bluish Grey 99780.dat Bracket 1 x 2 - 1 x 2 Up

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Building

The X-29 all ready to fly another test mission.

Following the Bell X-1, in which Chuck Yeager famously became the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound in level flight, dating back to 1947, there has been a long line of American experimental aircraft called “X-planes”.

X-planes have pushed the frontiers of aeronautical research.

Building the Grumman X-29 Article by Ralph Savelsberg

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The X-29, which first flew in 1984, was an X-plane intended for testing socalled forward-swept wings. Two examples were built by Grumman, a Long Island-based manufacturer with a long history of producing aircraft for the US Navy, including the F-14 Tomcat of Top Gun fame.

Grumman was also responsible for the spider-like Apollo Lunar Modules used to land American astronauts on the Moon, so they certainly weren’t strangers to building unconventional flying machines. The two X-29s flew a grand total of 242 test flights until their retirement in 1991. Both aircraft currently reside in museums.

Forward-swept wings

At a first glance, forward-swept wings may seem like an odd idea, but they can have a lot of advantages for a fighter aircraft. The shape of an aircraft wing changes the flow of the air around it, such that the pressure under the wing becomes larger than the pressure on top. As a result you get an aerodynamic lift force pointing upwards. If the nose of an aircraft is raised, increasing the angle between the wing and the airflow, this lift force increases. That angle is called the angle of attack. For a jet fighter, being able to fly at high angles of attack can be very useful, because the large lift force helps to make it maneuverable.

However, if the angle of attack becomes too large, the airflow over the wing

Forward-swept wings may look odd, but they allow the aircraft to remain controllable under flight conditions when more common aft-swept wings are not.

becomes disturbed and it suddenly loses lift. This is called a wing stall and it can be a very bad thing; the aircraft can become uncontrollable or even fall out of the sky.

The airflow around the wings also generates a drag force, which works against the motion through the air. It is the result of the wing having to push air out of its way, of friction exerted by the air rushing past it and, if the speed of the plane approaches the speed of sound, of shock waves. So, if you want to build a supersonic jet fighter, reducing drag will be high on your to-do list. Sweeping back the wings or making them triangular, which you can see on many jet fighters, reduces drag, certainly near speeds approaching the speed of sound (upward of 700 miles per hour). Unfortunately, compared to straight wings, swept-back wings are prone to wing stall at smaller angles of attack.

Aircraft design clearly involves a compromise. On the Tomcat, the wings could actually move: They were almost straight when the aircraft was flying at slow speeds, but were mechanically swept back as the aircraft flew faster. Forwardswept wings could also be an attractive alternative. For a variety of complicated reasons they are less prone to stalling than swept-back wings, so they should

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Due to the small size of the model, finding enough space for a minifigure pilot wasn’t easy.

allow the aircraft to remain flyable at higher angles of attack, and yet should still produce less drag than straight wings. Keeping such wings from twisting themselves apart requires some very fancy engineering, and keeping the aircraft flying with its nose pointing forward requires an advanced flight control system, but this sounds like just the ticket. The X-29 was built to test these new technologies in practice.

Building the Aircraft

To reduce costs, the real aircraft weren’t built completely from scratch.

Grumman used the forward fuselages and cockpit sections from two retired Northrop F-5A “Freedom Fighters”. The main landing gear and a few other bits and bobs were taken from the F-16 “Fighting Falcon” and the jets used the same engine as the F/A-18 “Hornet”. This may sound like a recipe for something akin to Frankenstein’s Monster, but the X-29 ended up looking very futuristic and remarkably elegant.

This look is not an easy thing to pull off in LEGO. And I also made things a bit more difficult for myself. When Joe Meno, the intrepid editor of this magazine, asked me to build an X-29 last year at BrickFair, I said, “Yes, and I’ll make it minifigure scale and studless too.” These were unusual choices. I rarely build models for minifigures, because, while fun, they are also awkwardly shaped little creatures. I also like studs on my models, because to me they are an integral part of the LEGO aesthetic.

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Since I was going to build the X-29 for minifigures, I obviously wanted space in its cockpit for a pilot, and I also wanted to some ground crew. The latter meant

that the aircraft couldn’t be too big, because otherwise it would dwarf any figures standing next to it. The former favored a larger scale, to have enough space for the figure’s wide torso, its arms and its large head. I picked a scale of 1/40 as a compromise, which is sufficiently smaller than my normal scale to make things a bit difficult. To carve out enough space for the pilot, for instance, I built the sides of the cockpit using thin 2x3 panels mounted sideways. This gives it enough internal width, and means that the figure sits low enough in the aircraft for the cockpit canopy to not hit its shoulders when closed.

Building the wings for this model was obviously a big deal. If, like me, you don’t mind the studs, making wings can be fairly easy, because LEGO makes many different wedge plates with suitable angles. The obvious thing to do if you want the wings to be studless, is to build them using narrow bricks mounted on their side. However, that would have given me really blunt leading and trailing edges. So, I added a row of small slopes to the leading edges. This meant that, to get the forward sweep, I had to fit the wings at a weird angle. I built the trailing edge using curved slopes attached to brackets, mounted at yet another weird angle. The geometry is complicated, so I worked it out on paper first.

The thickness of a brick on its side doesn’t correspond to that of a stack of plates.

Since the aft fuselage was largely built the old-fashioned way, with bricks and plates stacked on top of each other, I had to think carefully about how to fit the wing to the fuselage. I solved this by building bricks with studs on both sides into the middle part of the wing, attaching it to the upper part of the fuselage and then attaching the bottom part of the fuselage to the studs on the bottom.

The wing is now sandwiched between the upper and lower fuselage sections.

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The wing, built using bricks mounted sideways, is sandwiched between the upper and lower fuselage sections.

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I always like to have some working features on my aircraft models, such as a folding landing gear. Due to this model’s small scale, there is precious little space in its slender nose, but the front undercarriage is nothing too fancy; it simply folds forward. The main gear is a bit more complicated.

Each of its wheels is attached to a strut, that folds down and outwards when being extended, so that, when the aircraft is sitting on its wheels, the struts are splayed out slightly.

Fortunately I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel to make this happen; I combined ideas by two other veteran LEGO aircraft builders. The struts are hinged using ball joints. The design of the plates that can hold ball joints allows for a lot of movement in one direction, but not a lot of movement in the other. So, all I had to do was orient these plates in the fuselage such that the struts can easily fold

forward, but that they cannot splay out too far sideways. This solution was inspired by an F-16 model by Corvin Stichert. Given that the real aircraft’s gear was from an F-16, this seems only fitting. The wheels themselves are mounted at an angle relative to the struts using LEGO revolvers, so that they are vertical when the aircraft is parked. This is an idea I picked up from John Lamarck.

I always like to have some working features on my aircraft models, such as a folding landing gear.

The fuselage gets wider towards the intakes, which gave me just enough space to house the gear when folded. All this space did mean I had to take some care to make the fuselage sufficiently sturdy. Fortunately it is just tall enough for me to run a few plates lengthwise through it, above the landing gear bay. I built the gentle curve of the intakes into the fuselage using wedge bricks and curved slopes mounted sideways.

Both X-29s had an attractive color scheme, with white overall paint. The white was contrasted with thin dark blue and red lines that ran along the length of the fuselage and curved graciously over the wings. Initially I wanted to build these into the construction using plates. However, I soon realized that, with the panels for the cockpit sides and the complicated wing construction, this wasn’t feasible. So, I decided to use stickers instead. I made these myself, using a vector graphics program on a computer and an inkjet printer. After carefully cutting them, I attached them to the model using thin adhesive tape.

Cockpit detail (left) the distinctive forward swept wings (center) and engine detail (right).

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Despite Grumman using bits from other aircraft to build it, the X-29 looks remarkably elegant.

The studless construction of the wings was a big advantage with this. I finished the whole thing off by building a platform and adding some ramp equipment, including a small aircraft towing tractor, and a ground crew member.

The X-29 is an experimental aircraft, and building it turned into a bit of an experiment too. It isn’t completely studless, but I think it looks pretty clean. The scale means that it is all very tightly packaged, but I got everything I wanted to work. Experiment successful!

See more of Ralph’s work by scanning the QR code.

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People

A model of one of the aircraft that started it all: An F-14A Tomcat in the 1978 markings of Fighter Squadron 84, “The Jolly Rogers”.

Was it triggered by a movie such as Top Gun or The Final Countdown or a book by Tom Clancy or Stephen Coonts, or perhaps by seeing the model kits being built by my best friend? I don’t know, but as a teenager I developed a fascination with military aviation, and with naval aviation in particular.

I started making model kits. One of the first scale models I built was a 1/48 scale F-14 Tomcat in the seventies markings of US Navy Fighter Squadron 84, “The Jolly Rogers”. Most US Navy jets from that time were painted light grey on top, with white undersides and white control surfaces and, more importantly, with brightly colored markings identifying the squadron they belonged to. The Jolly Rogers are famous for the skull and crossbones applied to the fins of their aircraft.

I also had a poster of one of their Tomcats on the wall above my bed. However, when built my model kits never looked quite as good as the pictures on the box they came in. I was simply too impatient for all the sanding, gluing and painting and for sitting around waiting for paint or glue to dry.

The Aircraft and Helicopters of Carrier Air Wing Eight Article by Ralph Savelsberg

I have been an enthusiastic LEGO builder for most of my life, and because model kits weren’t really my cup of tea, at some point I turned to building aircraft models out of LEGO parts instead. Since then, aircraft models have been the staple of my LEGO diet. Over the years, I have always kept at least one model of an F-14 Tomcat. An earlier version was featured in the second ever issue of BrickJournal, way back in 2006.

LEGO has changed a lot since I was a teenager, or even since that first BrickJournal article. There are many more colors and parts that simply didn’t exist 25 years ago. In particular curved slopes, wedge bricks and wedge plates with different angles really help with building aircraft models. I also have a much bigger budget and can rely on resources such as Bricklink for buying parts. As a result, I can now do things that I could only dream of doing with my limited childhood parts collection. As a child I used to find minifigures a bit dull, with their identical goofy smiley faces, so I started building my aircraft at a slightly larger scale, rarely used minifigures. Nowadays minifigures are much more varied and fun, but I have mostly stuck to the scale I’ve been using for

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years, of 1/36, which to my eyes is a bit too big for them. One other thing that hasn’t changed is that I still like my models to have visible studs on top. They undoubtedly would look more realistic with fewer studs, but I like that they look as though they could be LEGO sets.

I do want my models to be authentic. When deployed aboard an aircraft carrier, a number of different squadrons with different missions form the so-called Carrier Air Wing. A US Navy fighter squadron, such as the Jolly Rogers, would have typically had about a dozen F-14 Tomcats assigned to it. In 1978 The Jolly Rogers were part of Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8), aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. Since I like my models to fit in a theme, for my expanding LEGO naval aircraft collection I have been picking other aircraft of that Wing, from different years. They are usually identifiable by having stylized ‘AJ’ letters on their tailfins.

This means that I am not building just any old helicopter or aircraft; I’m usually building an aircraft or helicopter that served aboard a particular aircraft carrier in a particular year. Although a lot of information and photographs can be found online and in books, finding specific photographs can be difficult. Fortunately I enjoy this, because I learn a lot about the history and about particular aircraft types in the process. I typically use blueprints to work out their overall size and shape, and I make a little drawing on graph paper. I also think about how to build some of the difficult bits. The wing geometries and the shapes of the aircrafts’ noses can be fairly complicated, for instance, and I also like my models to have working retractable undercarriages. These sometimes require fairly complicated engineering. I always like to have an idea of how I’m going to do all of that, before I actually start building. A lot of builders use a computer program such as ML-CAD or LDRAW for this sort of thing, but I’d rather go from the drawing and my ideas straight to building with real-life LEGO bricks. I prefer building most of the aircraft’s color scheme into the model, by using differently colored elements, but in particular for the bright markings on older US Navy aircraft, I have to resort to stickers. I make them on a computer using the photographs on books and found online as references.

Aboard USS Forrestal in 1965

The oddball E-1B Tracker (at right) served as an airborne radar station and could direct fighters, like the F-8E Crusader parked next to it, to intercept targets at longer ranges. Both aircraft have their outer wings folded to save deck space.

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The planes with extended wings.

In 1965, CVW-8 was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal. At the time, the US was already involved in the Vietnam War, but the Forrestal took its aircraft to the far more peaceful Mediterranean Sea. I picked 1965 because CVW-8 included a number of really interesting aircraft: A mix of the most advanced designs in the fleet and older propellerdriven designs already slated for replacement. Undoubtedly the oddest-looking plane on-board was the E-1B Tracer Airborne-Early Warning aircraft. It was one of the last US Navy aircraft types to still be powered by old-fashioned piston engines. It carried a big flattened teardrop-shaped faring on its back, that housed a rotating radar antenna.

Using the radar, trackers could direct fighter aircraft to intercept their targets at much longer distances than could be done using ship-board radars, which meant that an aircraft carrier could control a much larger area around it.

The A-3B Skywarrior was originally built as a nuclear bomber and, as such, is one of the largest and heaviest aircraft to routinely operate from aircraft carriers.

Aircraft of Carrier Air Wing Eight in 1965, clockwise, starting from the upper left: A UH-2A Seasprite rescue helicopter, an EA-1F Skyraider electronic attack aircraft, a US Marine Corps A-4E Skyhawk attack aircraft, and an F-4B Phantom II all-weather interceptor.

Forrestal carried two different types of fighters: the F-8E Crusader and the newer F-4B Phantom II, which was replacing the Crusaders in most fighter squadrons.

Forrestal also carried a number of A-3B Skywarriors. The Skywarrior was originally designed as a Cold War strategic nuclear bomber, at a time when nuclear weapons were large and heavy. Consequently, it was among the largest and heaviest aircraft to ever operate from an aircraft carrier. Since I build all of these models to the same scale, my LEGO model is quite large too; It has a length of about 77 studs, excluding the nose-mounted refueling probe. In 1965, Skywarriors were still in use as conventional bombers, but many were fitted with an air-to-air refueling system in their bomb bays, to extend the range of other

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aircraft in the Carrier Wing. Besides the already mentioned aircraft, Forrestal also carried a small number of propeller-driven EA-1F Skyraider aircraft, used for jamming enemy radars, and three squadrons of tiny A-4E Skyhawk attack aircraft, including one US Marine squadron. Since flying aircraft from a ship is inherently dangerous, Forrestal also carried a small number of UH-2A Seasprite rescue helicopters. During flight operations, one of these would constantly be orbiting near the ship, to quickly pick up any aircrew that ended up in the water in case of a crash. The Seasprites were painted dark grey with bright orange and yellow panels added for better visibility. I think it is a gorgeous little helicopter.

Aboard USS Nimitz in 1978

Aircraft of Carrier Air Wing Eight in 1978, clockwise, starting from the upper left: An A-6E Intruder all-weather attack aircraft, an A-7E Corsair II strike aircraft, an SH-3H Sea King anti-submarine warfare and utility helicopter, and a super sleek RA-5C Vigilante reconnaissance aircraft.

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In 1978, the war in Vietnam was over and the US Navy had returned to moreor-less normal peacetime operations. All of the aircraft types that were part of CVW-8 aboard Forrestal 13 years earlier had been replaced. The Wing now operated from USS Nimitz, which was one of the newest aircraft carriers to enter service. Nimitz travelled to the North Atlantic, with a port visit to Portsmouth in England, and again to the Mediterranean. The much newer F-14 Tomcat had replaced the old Crusaders and Phantoms and the A-6E Intruder and A-7E Corsair II, which were both improved versions of jets that first entered service during the Vietnam War, replaced the Skywarriors and Skyhawks. The old Seasprites were also replaced by a much larger helicopter: SH-3H Sea King. These still served as rescue helicopters, but also carried equipment for fighting submarines and could carry torpedoes. Besides the presence of The Jolly Rogers, a second reason for picking 1978 was that CVW-8 also included a few examples of the RA-5C Vigilante. This jet is among the most beautiful shapes ever to grace the deck of an aircraft carrier. It was originally built as a nuclear bomber, to replace the A-3 Skywarrior, but saw sterling service as a long-range reconnaissance aircraft during the Vietnam War. It was fast and looked super sleek, with a long and slender forward fuselage. In 1978, however, it was becoming rare; it was the last time Vigilantes were deployed on Nimitz and the only time together with Tomcats.

An F-14D “Bombcat” that served with Carrier Air Wing Eight in 2003 aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt.

The Air Wing also had several other new aircraft types: The EA-6B Prowler was a replacement for Skyraider and Skywarrior variants used for electronic attack, the E-2B Hawkeye was a replacement for the E-1 Tracer, and S-3A Viking was a new aircraft for anti-submarine warfare. I haven’t built 1978 versions of these particular aircraft, because I have also built variants that were still in service in 2003. US Navy aircraft markings were still bright and colorful, but that was about to change a few years later.

Aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt in 2003

The end of the Cold War in the late eighties/early nineties didn’t mean that US Navy aircraft carriers all of a sudden were without a job. Aircraft of Carrier Air Wing Eight, serving aboard a number of different ships, saw combat over Iraq during Desert Storm in 1991, over former Yugoslavia in the late nineties, and during the early days of “Enduring Freedom” in Afghanistan, in response to the 9-11 terror attacks. In early 2003, they were back in action over Iraq, now flying from USS Theodore Roosevelt. The reason I picked 2003 was because CVW-8 included the ultimate Tomcat version: The F-14D “Bombcat”, flown by Fighter Squadron 213 “Blacklions”. The F-14D also had new electronics and more powerful engines, and while the original F-14A was primarily intended as a fighter aircraft, by 2003 Tomcats could also drop laser- or satellite-guided precision bombs. Sadly, the markings are far less colorful than the Jolly Rogers’ 25 years earlier, but they don’t obscure the Tomcat’s good looks.

Every squadron was allowed to paint one or two of its aircraft in more visible colors. An example of this is my EA-6B Prowler electronic attack aircraft, flown by electronic attack squadron 141 “Shadowhawks”. It too is mostly grey, but the aircraft nominally assigned to the Air Wing’s commander did have sinister black markings on its tailfin. I made them using a combination of 33 printed stickers and black and grey LEGO parts for the background.

Electronic attack squadron 141 “Shadowhawks” flew EA-6B Prowlers as part of Carrier Air Wing Eight in 2003.

The wing also had three squadrons of F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters, one with S-3B Viking anti-submarine warfare aircraft, a number of SH-60F/ HH-60H Seahawk helicopters, and E-2C Hawkeyes. I’ve built an example of each type.

The Hawkeye was a particularly fun build, with its radar dish and weirdly canted tailfins. Like the old E-1 Tracer before it, it has propellers, but they are powered by more advanced turbine engines.

Aircraft of Carrier Air Wing Eight in 2003, clockwise, starting from the upper left: An F/A-18C Hornet strike fighter, an SH-60F Seahawk anti-submarine warfare and utility helicopter, an S-3B Viking antisubmarine warfare aircraft, and an E-2C Hawkeye airborne-early warning aircraft.

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A US Navy Carrier Air Wing has many different missions. In the past this meant that it had a mix of squadrons, with different aircraft types. Building versions from several years meant I was building some really cool and unusual models, that show how the Wing and the technology evolved. Post-2003, Carrier Air Wing Eight was still right in the thick of things. In June 2017, for instance, one of its F/A18E Super Hornets, which replaced Tomcats and most older Hornets, shot down a Syrian Air Force Su-22 Fitter. I may still build that particular Super Hornet, but the Air Wing unfortunately is not as interesting any more as a subject for my LEGO builds. Of all the different aircraft types, only aircraft types Super Hornets, Hawkeyes and Seahawks are left, and most of them are grey.

However, in the fifties aircraft Carrier Group Eight (the predecessor to Carrier Air Wing Eight) included some really neat first-generation jet fighters and I’ve been eyeballing pictures of those for a while now.

Perhaps you’ll see their LEGO versions in some future issue of BrickJournal.

Building

Corvin Stichert:

Building Modern and Future Planes Interview by Joe Meno Photography by Corvin Stichert

Corvin Stichert is a builder who has been seen showing off his planes at BrickFair Virginia. He also took the leap from fan builder to LEGO designer in 2015. Before that, he worked as a community manager and student concept artist. BrickJournal talked to him about his planes.

BrickJournal: How long have you been building?

Corvin Stichert: I received my first sets at the age of 4, starting with a bucket of classic bricks and my father’s bricks from his childhood, followed by my first town sets.

All in all, that makes 24 years of building with bricks.

Did you have a Dark Age? If so, what got you out of it?

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Yes and no. I lost a lot of interest in the classic themes in the early 2000s. Part of that was of course due to becoming a teenager, but also the sets themselves. A lot of them were just too simple for my taste. Luckily, that was when the first waves of Star Wars sets were released, and I found the building challenges I was looking for. I had only just been introduced to the movies a year or two prior, so it happened at just the right time. It felt like forever to save up enough pocket money to buy that first X-Wing. And then in 2001, Bionicle was launched and I heavily got into that. I stuck with Star Wars and Bionicle for many years, building just a few MOCs here and there whenever the mood struck. It wasn’t exactly a full ‘dark age’, but it was very casual up until 2010, when I attended my first LEGO fan event. It was quite eye-opening, and meeting so many like-minded builders re-energized the wish to create my own models.

F-22:

Your favorite theme?

I’ve had a few over the years. Adventurers, Rock Raiders and Racers are all very dear to me as themes I grew up with.

Star Wars played a huge role as well and that line includes some of my favorite sets to this day. But the biggest one is still Bionicle by a huge margin in terms of how much time I’ve invested, not just in the sets and the story behind them, but also getting involved in that part of the fan community.

It is partially responsible for my becoming interested in design in the first place, and an interest in storytelling and drawing that continues to this day.

The Raptor is probably my favorite jet of all time.

Prior to it, my understanding of stealth was all about the harsh angles, midnight black paint and low speed.

And then the F-22 comes in and does away with all of that, replaces it all with blended curves, super cruise, and serves some thrust vectoring and internal storage on top. Suffice to say it made an impression.

The first big challenge is the overall shape. Stealth designs don’t like conventional angles due to their pesky habit of reflecting radar. To recreate that, the model uses an internal structure of triangles built using clips. They are attached to a central ‘spine’ built with Technic bricks that runs practically the length of the entire jet and provides stability. The next tricky area was the cockpit. The top and sides are angled downwards; the bottom is angled up and it needs to fit the pilot, ejection seat and nose gear. A lot of trial and error with SNOT building went into it. The last big challenge was the main landing gear. It works deceptively simple on the real Raptor with an L-beam structure that simply folds down sideways. But when building it, it soon became apparent that there was barely enough clearance inside the model, for either the tires or the struts holding them. The breakthrough was a double-hinge for the outer door of the landing gear compartment using Technic-beams. This allowed for that last bit of clearance needed to get the tire past it. The model you see here is the latest version in a long line of attempts to capture its looks, and I’m sure it won’t be the last, as new ideas and elements to refine it come about.

What inspired you to start building military planes?

I’ve always been a fan of aircraft, not just the fighter jets. I’m not entirely sure when it started, but I recall a few childhood moments: Seeing a Tornado race by at low level over my grandparents’ house; sitting in the cockpit of a Eurofighter at an air show; spending afternoons with friends and trying not to crash in the flight simulator game we played. What made the jets so fascinating is the amazing engineering that goes into them and the resulting combination of sleek looks and high performance. That’s what captured me, and I’m now in turn trying to capture it in bricks.

How do you design a model?

Once I find something that I want to build, I generally start with figuring out the dimensions and proportions. If the model is based in reality, the first step is figuring out the scale. I generally build all my aircraft to a scale of roughly 1/40. If it’s a fictional jet, I go straight to the next step and play around with elements to find the right shapes. That

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F-16:

The ‘Teen’ series of jets has some of the most straightforward aircraft designs among them, especially the Falcon. It’s almost minimalist in how neatly everything is built around the engine. I think there’s a certain elegance in that. It also causes the biggest challenge of the build, as it becomes rather tricky to find enough room for the functions, while keeping the fuselage mostly four studs wide. To save as much space as possible, the main landing gear uses mini ball joints as hinges. The wings are built using hinge plates, to get the correct angle on the leading edge. Luckily, the rest lends itself very well to being built at this scale. This model was originally built as a test for the relatively new bubble-canopy element that was released in 2016 but underwent a complete overhaul since then, which is the version you see here.

can mean starting to build one part of the model where I already have—or rather think I have—a good idea of how to build it. Often, the first idea doesn’t work out and needs some tinkering. For real planes it might start out with just putting together plates that form the silhouette, to determine what slopes to use, etc. Color isn’t that important at that stage, so the first sketch model might be a rainbow warrior. LEGO Digital Designer is very useful at this stage, to see if what I have in mind works. Admittedly, I’m a little impatient, so at this point I often prefer to just work digitally, since it means iterating a lot faster than with physical building. Once that’s done, the model has some finished bits and pieces and a lot of gaps. For example: It might have the engine nozzles, landing gear, wings, and cockpit built and put in the right positions relative to each other, but nothing holding them together. Now it’s time to connect and fill the space between. This is where the bulk of the building and problem-solving occurs. A lot of time goes into optimizing the build, to make it stable and not use unnecessarily parts-intensive techniques. Two rules of thumb I work by: Don’t use two pieces where one will do, and always use the largest part possible for the job.

What is the hardest part about building planes?

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It varies from aircraft to aircraft and any number of challenges can appear in either form or function: Sometimes you try to capture the look of a jet exactly, but the shape is so odd or angled that it starts to push what is possible with LEGO bricks. Wing geometry is a good example of where it might be necessary to combine multiple angled plates to capture the right profile. A bit of applied math goes a long way here to ensure things stay in the grid of the building

system. Functions like working flaps and landing gears are another big challenge—the latter especially, either because there might not be a lot of room available inside the model to fold them into, or the mechanism itself is engineered in a way on the real aircraft that makes it hard to recreate with bricks. Stability and balance are important also. Once it’s finished, the model should be able to sit on its own wheels without collapsing under the weight. Real aircraft often have a large part of their fuselage extending aft, far beyond the main wheels, but due to the materials used and the positions of the heavy parts like the engines, the weight remains centered. With LEGO, the weight of the elements is a given, so the only way to achieve that balance is to find less part-intensive solutions for the overhanging bits or vice-versa.

Which model are you most proud of?

I’m proud of all of them for different reasons, but my top three are the F-22 Raptor, A400M Atlas and the A-17 Thunderstruck: The Raptor, because it was the toughest to capture its looks while including functions; the Atlas was a massive project that took many months of planning and building. It was tough to make it sturdy and keep the interior as spacious as possible to fit cargo. The A-17 was a collaboration with my friend Matthew Hacker and we really pushed each other to put the best of our building skills into that model.

Which was the hardest to build?

The A-17, without a doubt. Being a team effort, we both wanted certain things in the model. I wanted forwardswept wings; Matthew wanted wings like a Corsair. Instead of compromising, we did both, which means there is hardly a straight angle in the wings. On top of that, the engines are also mounted at an angle and blend into the dovetail aft section. There are some very strange things going on inside that plane.

Do you have any advice for beginning builders?

First and foremost: Don’t stop building! That’s really the most important bit. And when you’re out and about, look at what’s around you. Think about how you could make the things you see throughout the day with LEGO. Think of the pieces you could use. That will help to build up a mental library of ideas you can use later. But more importantly, build what makes you happy! Whether that’s spaceships, trains, castles, mosaics, vignettes, sculptures... whatever strikes your fancy. And don’t worry if your models aren’t the biggest or use the most advanced building techniques yet. You’ll get there if you keep at it.

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A-17:

A few years back, my friend Matthew and I both got inspired to build a near-future replacement for the A-10, and decided to team up for the effort. The result was the A-17 Thunderstruck (named after the AC/DC song). Since we live on opposite sides of the Atlantic, the design process happened primarily in LDD, with us mailing the files back and forth whenever either of us had a new idea we wanted to implement. We were both in agreement that the A-17 should have a stealthy dovetail design, but keep the general layout and proportions of the A-10, to make its origins and close air-support role obvious. The long wedges used to create the top of the fuselage helped a lot with this while keeping the design clean. Sometimes, getting too detailed can make it difficult to decode the shapes when looking at something, so as with so many things, less is more. Then came the big discussion and testing phase for the wings. Once again, mini ball joints came to the rescue here. The wings are attached using three of them on either side, combining the newer type used in Mixels with the classic tow-hitch type. This made the combined forward sweep and downward angle possible. It worked out well in the end and I’m very proud of this collaboration.

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Seraphim:

The Seraphim is a fictional top-secret hypersonic high-altitude spy plane. It has three engines—the two massive ones integrated into the wings provide the speed and power it up into the stratosphere. These engines are mounted such that they can rotate along with the aileron part of the wings, allowing for tighter turns at speed and a shorter takeoff distance. Once altitude is reached, they throttle back and the internal third, stealthier engine takes over for the cruise phase of flight. Usually, I try to keep my designs somewhat believable. Here, that gets pushed quite a bit. A third engine that doesn’t kick in until altitude and otherwise serving as dead weight might be any aeronautic engineer’s nightmare, but it does adhere to the ‘rule of cool’. The idea came to me during a convention several years ago. Sometime later, one of the homework assignments while studying gamedesign fit perfectly with that initial idea and gave the push to fully develop the concept. But beyond some art and a first sketch model, it spent roughly another three years sitting around before being built. Sometimes, a good concept needs a lot of time to mature. The build of the model was slow—not because the techniques used were very complicated, but because I wanted a very sleek exterior and so a lot of time was spent refining the transitions between elements. Originally, the rotating engines were attached using long cross axles secured inside the wings. What I didn’t account for was the torsion on these axles when turning the engines, which meant the engines didn’t stay in a position; the axles were just flexing and would spring back once let go of.

To fix the issue, I replaced that mechanism with the 2x2 bricks with ball joints. At first, the jet was going to be built in all black, but as a further reference to the Blackbird and its predecessors, it now has black leading edges on the wings while the rest is gray, much like the blank metal skin on those old jets.

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COMICS MAGAZINES FROM TWOMORROWS BACK ISSUE

BACK ISSUE celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through a variety of recurring (and rotating) departments, including Pro2Pro interviews (between two top creators), “Greatest Stories Never Told”, retrospective articles, and more.

Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

BACK ISSUE #113

ALTER EGO

ALTER EGO, the greatest ‘zine of the ‘60s, is all-new, focusing on Golden and Silver Age comics and creators with articles, interviews and unseen art. Each issue includes an FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) section, Mr. Monster & more.

Edited by ROY THOMAS.

ALTER EGO #160

COMIC BOOK CREATOR

COMIC BOOK CREATOR is the new voice of the comics medium, devoted to the work and careers of the men and women who draw, write, edit, and publish comics, focusing always on the artists and not the artifacts, the creators and not the characters. Edited by JON B. COOKE.

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #19

DRAW!

DRAW! is the professional “How-To” magazine on cartooning and animation.

Each issue features in-depth interviews and step-by-step demonstrations from top comics professionals. Some issues contain figure-drawing instruction nudity; Mature Readers Only. Edited by MIKE MANLEY.

DRAW #36

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR celebrates the life and career of the “King” of comics through interviews with Kirby and his contemporaries, feature articles, and rare & unseen Kirby artwork, showcased in dynamic full-color! Edited by JOHN MORROW.

KIRBY COLLECTOR #77

REMEMBERING STEVE DITKO! Sturdy Steve at Marvel, DC, Warren, Charlton, and elsewhere! A rare late-1960s Ditko interview by RICHARD HOWELL—biographical notes by NICK CAPUTO—tributes by MICHAEL T. GILBERT, PAUL LEVITZ, BERNIE BUBNIS, BARRY PEARL, ROY THOMAS, et al. Plus FCA, JOHN BROOME, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

Spider-Man cover by DITKO!

Celebrating the greatest fantasy artist of all time, FRANK FRAZETTA! From THUN’DA and EC COMICS to CREEPY, EERIE, and VAMPIRELLA, STEVE RINGGENBERG and CBC’s editor present an historical retrospective, including insights by current creators and associates, and memories of the man himself. PLUS: Frazetta-inspired artists JOE JUSKO, and TOM GRINDBERG, who contributes our Death Dealer cover!

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Building

James’ Corsair diorama.

James Cherry:

Props, Jets, and Bricks!

Interview by Joe Meno Photography by James Cherry An overhead view of the diorama.

James Cherry is a builder who lives an ordinary life. He’s married, has a son, and a dog and cat. He has been working for a computer games company for the last 20 years. His interests include skateboarding and playing guitar in a band.

Another interest he has is in aviation, and he combines LEGO building with it to create incredibly detailed models of aircraft. While he builds other subjects, like cars, he is most known for his planes, which have been seen online and in events in the UK. James talked to BrickJournal about his planes and building.

BrickJournal: When did you start LEGO building?

James Cherry: I have built LEGO since being a small kid; it was by far my favorite toy growing up. I continued building until around the age of 16 before other interests got in the way.

Did you have a Dark Age? If so, what got you back into building?

I got back into LEGO at the start of the Star Wars franchise, especially after the first few UCS sets. I began to understand what could be achieved with LEGO as a medium and that realistic representations of real life objects were possible.

What is your favorite theme?

I have enjoyed a number of LEGO themes over the years, starting with Classic Space; I got into Technic at a fairly young age; then Star Wars and nowadays mainly Technic and some of the ideas sets like the Saturn 5. I don’t buy a lot of kits for myself these days, but my son loves LEGO and I get to enjoy many of the newer sets that he gets!

Why did you choose LEGO as a medium?

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My dad used to ask me that all the time! He is a scale R/C aircraft builder, and an amazing one at that. He never used to understand my choice of medium. Seeing some of my latest models, though, I think he understands that the level of fidelity that can be achieved with LEGO now is pretty high. Though they have functionality, he does still

A closer look at the Corsair.

remind me that they don’t fly! I tried many other forms of modelling like airfix style kits, balsa, etc., but I was just not very good at it. I turned to LEGO as it offered both an engineering challenge and didn’t involve messy glue and paints. Plus I just find the process of constructing with LEGO very therapeutic; like modellers in general, I think you just know when you have found your medium. And also, when you have a nine-year-old boy, it means we can share a hobby, which is awesome!

What inspired you to build planes?

I was interested in aviation since a very young age; for most of my childhood I aspired to be a fighter pilot. That plan didn’t work out for me but I have always maintained a healthy obsession with fighter aircraft, especially their design. I was always really interested in functioning model planes and after my Dark Age, I quickly started wanting to try to emulate that in LEGO form. With the gradual release of better Power Functions, more curved slopes and generally more choice in elements, it meant that creating scale, functional models of aircraft became a possibility.

Tell us about your design process.

My design process always starts with picking an aircraft that I am interested in. In order to build a functioning scale model I like to completely understand the real aircraft, how it was designed and how it functioned. This generally involves purchasing many books and reading as much

The Corsair’s cockpit.

material and studying as many pictures as I can. Due to the desire to make the models functioning, I build at a fairly large scale, mostly 1/15 or 1/10 in the case of the P-51D Mustang. I print out the most accurate scale drawings I can find and I adhere to them to mostly within 1mm to ensure the external shape is correct. I always also build a Tamiya or similar plastic model, normally in 1/32 scale,

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The Mustang.

to help me appreciate the 3D shaping that cannot be appreciated through 2D pictures alone.

Then I will start to physically build. I don’t use any CAD software, it is all brick on brick, trial and error. I am lucky now that I have built up a large parts inventory so I normally have everything I need to at least test different options before I have to commit to Bricklink orders. First up is the Technic frame and the initial installation of the Power Functions, including how they will need to be The cockpit of the Mustang.

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linked to the control surfaces. Once this stage is complete I will then begin to build all the components of the plane that will be powered. So this normally covers the tail plane area with rudders and elevators or elevons and the wings with flaps, ailerons and spoilers. With the Tomcat that also included the swing wing mechanism and how I was going to tackle the under wing “airbags” that fill the void when the wing is forward (I ended up making the airbags from dyed LEGO sail material trapped under the surrounding bricks). Then I move on to the various outer panels that

A look at the custom chrome on the Mustang.

create the shaping. This process is the most time consuming and usually involves many, many iterations before they get finalized. The last build stage is the detail like undercarriage, missiles, pylons, gear doors and cockpit interior. Finally the stickers and stencils are applied to finish the model off.

The main ambitions with the Mustang were that I wanted to build the internal frame and components accurately (like fuel tanks, frame structure and engine) and wanted to have it chromed to loosely resemble the bare metal finish of many of the real aircraft. I built a Technic frame which was held rigid largely by putting the large 16x8 tiles down the fuselage side. Most of the parts I chromed myself in vinyl.

The studded parts I bought custom chromed.

The F4J Phantom was my first proper foray with Power Functions. While with the P-51D it made sense to have the control column and rudder pedals manually drive the control surfaces by cables, I wanted to create remotely controlled control surfaces for the Phantom. Due to the much larger size of the real aircraft, I scaled down to 1/15.

I built this model from the ground up with the Power Functions as key and then skinned the Technic frame and functions with the outer shaping. I use huge amounts of the discontinued finger hinge pieces in all of my model outer shaping, as well as various ball joints and other hinges.

My main ambition with any of my models is to build an accurate scale model. This is always forefront in my mind and I generally will not compromise that for anything.

This tends to make building the functions much harder as I generally have less space to fit them due to internal structures needed to support the accurate outer skin.

The F-14A Tomcat was an evolution of the experience I had building the Phantom. I refined many of the techniques and incorporated new ones and it took a year to build with so

Interior compartments are also built in the plane.

many iterations. The complex nature of the curves on that plane meant it was a huge challenge to model accurately and also maintain the functionality. The inclusion of the carrier deck section added an extra dimension. I love to be able to display the models in some kind of background environment, and that one I was really pleased with; the tow truck and carrier deck crew (designed by the awesome Joe Perez) really helped the overall display.

My latest aircraft build, the F4U Corsair, continued this theme with a detailed background to place it on, which was a lot of fun to build, especially the palm trees. It is the first of a number of planned 1/15 scale WW2 aircraft I intend to build. I am currently building 2 Spitfires, a Mk5 and a Mk14.

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F-4 Phantom.

Do you make the graphics and print them yourself? How do you make them?

I design all of the stickers and decals myself using various software programs. My father used to be a sign writer so has a vinyl plotter that I use to cut the vinyl stickers. It is pretty indispensable for the type of stickers I create, though if you can prepare the files, there are lots of sign companies that could cut them out for you. For the dry rubs, I prepare a file and then use a local printing company to print them.

Rear view of the F-4 Phantom, showing the distinctive tail.

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These are applied by rubbing a pencil on the backing sheet, like the old Letraset or the sheets I remember getting in cereal boxes as a kid. The resolution and quality of dry rubs is really incredible; 1mm tall letters are possible for example.

Do you make any custom elements for your planes?

Yes I do, the canopies on all of my planes have non-LEGO glazed components. I have tried building brick canopies but they just do not look scale enough for me. I know the use of

A look at the front of the plane.

non-LEGO parts is divisive, but the issues presented with brick-built ones, like the opaqueness and the compromises needed on the interior detail, don’t meet my scale needs.

Sometimes there is an R/C plane kit in the same scale that I am building in with a canopy which I can cut up to use, but with the Tomcat, for example, I had to shape my own balsa wood mold and vacuum form my own glazing to fit into the LEGO frame of the model. This was a painstaking process and took weeks of work to get to the final item you see on the model.

What for you dictates the scale, and why?

The underside of the F-4, showing the drop tanks and weaponry.

The ability to build a model that looks real enough is largely responsible for defining the scale. Too small, and the detail, shaping and functionality are just not possible.

Too large, and the practicalities of strength, space and moving it around become an issue. I am always looking to build with smooth transitions rather than stepping bricks and plates, and generally a larger size means this becomes more achievable. Once I have decided on a rough size, the main two other considerations are usually available wheel options and, in particular on recent models, missile diameters. The Tomcat carries three different sized missiles, and with the limited round brick options, I had to select the scale that would best suit the construction of all three. My two big jets ended up being 1/15 scale as result.

How do you ensure that everything is to scale?

I constantly measure against plans and check against photos, drawings and models. I physically build on top of a scaled plan view printout of the real plane, and have other views on the wall behind my build space.

Your F-14 appears on a section of aircraft carrier. Was this something you always intended, and how did you design and build it?

The tail section, with tailhook down in the center.

I actually intended to build the section of deck to display my F4J Phantom on, but I just didn’t get around to it at the time. When I was nearing completion of the Tomcat, I decided to take the plunge; it was quite a mammoth job! I studied photos and plans of the USS Enterprise’s forward starboard catapult and then built up

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F-14 Tomcat waiting to be launched.

a structure to support the top skin so that I could achieve the depth below the Jet Blast Deflector. My favorite part of the structure is the interpretation of the Tie Down Points that US carriers have. The use of arch bricks and Speed Champion wheel rims look pretty accurate to the real thing.

Not only is your F-14 exciting due to its size, impressive design, and formidable detail, but it also includes its own sound and lights. Are these LEGO modules, and if not, how did you design and build in these features?

F-14 Tomcat cockpit.

This was my first foray into light and sound. I was rather egged on by a few people who have been incorporating lights, especially, into their builds very successfully. Both the sound and afterburner lighting are non-LEGO items though. The model has a two-inch speaker in each tail pipe linked to an F-14A sound module normally for use in R/C models; they can go extremely loud and sound very authentic with start up, shut down and afterburner stages.

The afterburner lights are also an R/C aircraft component and change color as the afterburner ignites in sync with the sounds. They were relatively straightforward to incorporate into the structure, mainly using LEGO elastic bands. They run off of a radio control unit, but I am currently looking into controlling them from an SBrick.

What is your favorite model?

Ground crew, designed by Joe Perez.

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My favorite of my own models is the Tomcat. The sheer time and effort that went into it was huge, and ultimately it is the model I am most proud of. Perhaps that will be superseded one day, but for now it is the one that stands out. As far as other LEGO builders, Joe Perez’s builds in general are some of my favorites, as well as many of the builders that are part of the Scale Modelers LUG that I am a member of.

What advice would you give a beginning builder?

Study, study, study the aircraft. Understand how it was really built, how it functioned, why it looked the way it did. Then print out scale plans and build a 3D model like a Tamiya kit. If you want functions, then looking at how current Technic kits work can provide invaluable ideas for how to make functions work. But for me it is largely a process of trial and error to get the best functions and the best outer shaping possible; there always has to be some compromise. I literally go through tens of iterations of every section I build to refine to the best possible finish until I am happy. If one section is frustrating too much, then switch to another for a few weeks and come back to it later; it is nearly always easier to find solutions after some time off. I never rush. I realize that taking a year to build one model is not for everyone; the iterative improvement process I employ takes a lot of time, but is necessary for me to meet the high quality control I place on how I want the finished models to look.

THE SPRAY YOU HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR

WHAT IS IT?

Brick Shield is a temporary, non-toxic adhesive that protects your hard work.

And when you want, Brick Shield washes off and you can start all over again. You control the life of your creations!

Another look at the F-14 diorama, showing the raised jet blast deflector.

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Building Minifig Customization 101:

Usurping a Theme Evil Soliloquy, Act II:

GEAR!

As with the start of every continued TV show, there is a quick recap from last time…

AIM troops guide an Air Support vehicle.

Article and Photography by Jared K. Burks A.I.M., Modok TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Last time on Minifigure Customization 101, we demonstrated the creation of a unique A.I.M. Agent helmet, which was 3D printed and painted to color match LEGO bright light orange. Minifigure art was drawn and printed onto torsos to complete the basic figure. Now M.O.D.O.K. has his minions; they need their gear….

For those unfamiliar with A.I.M. Agents, a quick recap will follow. Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) is an organization of brilliant scientists and their hirelings dedicated to the acquisition of power and the overthrow of all government by technological means (i.e., Evil Tony Stark types). A.I.M. was the scientific research division of the subversive military organization Hydra however; they seceded from Hydra in the late ’60s because of political differences, and began independent operations. A.I.M. first came to public attention when it was incorporated as an international cartel dealing with the development and marketing of new technological products. It supplied hardware and weapons to governmental and quasigovernmental agencies. Sometime after this, Colonel Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. exposed A.I.M. to be a subversive organization. Since then, all of A.I.M.’s activities have been covert. In the Marvel world, A.I.M. has only had three major achievements: The Super-Adaptoid, the Cosmic Cube containing an Infinity Stone, and M.O.D.O.K. Thus, M.O.D.O.K. needs to meet his makers! [Footnote: M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M. biographies were modified from Marvel. com]

Parts List (Parts can be ordered from Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color) Qty Color 1 White 2 2 2 2 4 6 24 1 2 1 2 1

Part 4733.dat

Description Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Four Sides White 85861.dat Plate 1 x 1 Round with Open Stud White Pearl Gold 577b.dat Minifig Lightsaber Hilt with Bottom Ring Pearl Gold 2412b.dat Tile 1 x 2 Grille with Groove Pearl Gold 3023.dat Plate 1 x 2 Pearl Gold 3048b.dat Slope Brick 45 1 x 2 Triple Pearl Gold 6091.dat Brick 2 x 1 x 1 & 1/3 with Curved Top Pearl Gold 6141.dat Plate 1 x 1 Round Pearl Gold 15573.dat Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud, without Understud Pearl Gold 47457.dat Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 x 2/3 Triple with Two Top Studs Pearl Gold 60474.dat Plate 4 x 4 Round with Hole and Snapstud Pearl Gold 61252.dat Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Horizontal (Thick C-Clip) Dark Purple 44728.dat Bracket 1 x 2 - 2x 2

M.O.D.O.K. – Photo and custom chair

by Jeff “Octopunk” Cross.

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Agents alone are not sufficient for M.O.D.O.K.’s grand plans, thus in grand criminality, this article will usurp the LEGO Jungle Theme in order to create the world of the A.I.M. Agents, and we will finally give M.O.D.O.K. the minions and resources needed to conquer and dominate the LEGOverse! S.H.I.E.L.D. beware! Let’s finish the evil plan and create all the gear in a few easy building steps.

As part of “Usurping a Theme,” we must actually perform that task of usurpation before the superhero thwarts our efforts. I must be long winded in my description to track with and follow the code of the villain soliloquy. So please read on.

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A.I.M. Poster—”Don’t call us we’ll call you” by Mike Mahle: AIM Recruitment Poster

The title of the article actually comes from me stumbling upon a unique and massive clearance/mislabeled LEGO find for the Jungle Set 60160, the Mobile Lab, for $10. As I started looking at this set, I pondered what to do with it. I am not really a set builder anymore, but I do like the bright light orange color. The more I examined the vehicle, the more I liked the design that LEGO had created, and the more I started thinking about who might have a mobile lab, and inspiration struck. M.O.D.O.K. needed his mobile chariot and laboratory to investigate the many mysteries in life, and more importantly, death; he is a villain, after all. This lead me down a rabbit hole of looking for as many of the Jungle sets as I could possibly find, as many of the vehicles lent themselves to evil science purposes.

Vehicle Conversion

Ultimately, I ended up with Jungle set #60156, 60157, 60158, 60159, 60160, and 60161. I was not able to find 60162 even though I had great plans for that heavy helicopter, big truck and boat; oh well. Surely my efforts will be enough here, and I thank my wife for this crazy indulgence. I had bright light orange vehicles now: Buggies, Swamp Boats, Four Wheelers, Light Cargo Helicopter, Heavy Four Wheeler, Tracked Vehicles, Mobile Labs, Six-Wheel Vehicles, Heavy Movers, and Rescue/ Escape Helicopters. I had a mobile arsenal to support any evil faction. They merely needed branding and weaponry.

This is where I contacted my favorite arms dealer, even though he has been out of the arms business for a bit.

How many of you recall Brickshelf? Just a quick show of hands. Oh, this is print, I can’t see the hands. Well, back in the day when you wanted to share your favorite MOC and you needed to upload a photo, there was Brickshelf. Long before Flickr, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook—honestly most anything else—we AFOLs had and used a site called Brickshelf. In or around 2005-2007 I stumbled upon Nannan Zhang’s Gun Museum, which over the years I have seen in many forms, but the last and final was v5. It can still be found on Brickshelf today: http://www.brickshelf. com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=255665 Knowing I would need Minifigure scale weapons that attached to vehicles, I started studying Nannan’s designs for inspiration, and honestly, items to USURP! Stark has nothing on Nannan! I had already taken the Jungle theme; why not take Nannan’s designs as well?

Muhahahahahaha! Seriously, though, I gravitated to the Rail Gun 03.jpg, Missile Pack 07.jpg, and Minigun 01.jpg. We weren’t really creative with our filenames back then apparently, but these will all make sense if you visit Brickshelf. But I used these three as inspiration and I merely took the designs. For most of the others I riff on Nannan’s theme, as I merely ran out of the parts he commonly used, so I went a touch freestyle. I made sure each vehicle had a unique weapon and tried to make them use some of the base design that LEGO had incorporated into the various sets.

Nannan’s Gun Museum.

A rail gun.

A missile pack.

4x4 Cricket, based on the ATV in the 60158 Jungle Cargo Helicopter A minigun.

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Heavy Recon Vehicle, based on the truck in 60161 Jungle Exploration Site

Now armed, I needed to brand. This is something A.I.M. understands well; they walk around in yellow bee keeper suits, after all. So I started digging into the various logos for A.I.M. and settled on one specific version. You will see that I snuck in one alternative; let’s call this my mole, who doesn’t belong. Can you find the hidden S.H.I.E.L.D. infiltration undercover spies? I then set to changing every place where there was a Jungle logo to an A.I.M. logo and I also started recreating many of the stickers so that I could tweak and augment. As my printer is still under the weather, I talked/bribed/COMMANDED Chris Campbell to do my bidding, but seriously I asked and he obliged and printed a myriad of LEGO elements with the A.I.M. logo. The power or politeness is amazing.

Boom-Boom Mobile, based on the rover in 60159 Jungle Halftrack Mission

Helicopter, based on 60158 Jungle Cargo Helicopter

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Rescue Chopper, based on the helicopter in 60161 Jungle Exploration Site

I now have a convoy of vehicles along with supported air and sea power to finally give S.H.I.E.L.D. a run for their money. If I can only thwart that rival faction of A.I.M. Agents, the dreaded blue squad. Blue A.I.M. Agents are a splinter group of A.I.M. agents who escaped being taken over by M.O.D.O.K. Unlike M.O.D.O.K.’s agents who are all clad in yellow, this renegade section of A.I.M. is clad in blue. The two factions have clashed on occasion, with M.O.D.O.K.’s group proving superior.

Sonic Buggy, based on 60156 Jungle Buggy

Air Support Vehicle, based on the rover in 60161 Jungle Exploration Site

Swamp Boat, based on 60157 Jungle Starter Set

Track-Rail, based on the halftrack in 60159 Jungle Halftrack Mission

I hope you all enjoyed this variance from my typical article, where I dabbled in decorating LEGO structures instead of merely minifigures. Please know all the skills presented in this article series do lend themselves to most any part of LEGO and if you need an evil lab or henchmen, henchwomen, or henchalien, they can all be created if you merely catch the creative bug.

Transport Vehicle, based on 60160 Jungle Mobile Lab

You can view Jared’s webpage by going to http://www.fineclonier.com/ or scanning this QR code!

Don’t miss Jared K. Burks’ two books Minifigure Customization: Populate Your World! and its sequel Minifigure Customization: Why Live In The Box? (available now at www.twomorrows.com)

Come back next issue for more Minifigure Customization!

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Mini Boeing 747 “Jumbo” Jet

You Can Build It

MINI Model

Parts List (Parts can be ordered from Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color)

Qty Color Part Description 4 Lt-Bluish-Gray 87087.dat Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side 2 White 6192.dat Brick 2 x 4 with Curved Top 7 Lt-Bluish-Gray 59900.dat Cone 1 x 1 with Stop 1 White 6039.dat Cone 2 x 2 x 1.667 Octagonal 4 Lt-Bluish-Gray 2429.dat Hinge Plate 1 x 4 Base 4 Lt-Bluish-Gray 2430.dat Hinge Plate 1 x 4 Top 4 Lt-Bluish-Gray 3626c.dat Minifig Head with Closed Hollow Stud 3 Black 11253.dat Minifig Roller Skate 4 Lt-Bluish-Gray 3024.dat Plate 1 x 1 1 Lt-Bluish-Gray 3023.dat Plate 1 x 2 3 White 3023.dat Plate 1 x 2 1 Red 4596.dat Plate 1 x 2 with 3L Extension and Stud Hole 5 Lt-Bluish-Gray 3794a.dat Plate 1 x 2 without Groove with 1 Centre Stud 2 White 3623.dat Plate 1 x 3 2 Lt-Bluish-Gray 2420.dat Plate 2 x 2 Corner 1 White 87580.dat Plate 2 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud 1 White 99206.dat Plate 2 x 2 x 0.667 with 2 Studs On Side and Two Raised 1 Lt-Bluish-Gray 3020.dat Plate 2 x 4 1 White 3020.dat Plate 2 x 4 1 Red 3795.dat Plate 2 x 6 1 Red 3034.dat Plate 2 x 8 1 Lt-Bluish-Gray 3034.dat Plate 2 x 8 2 Trans-Black 54200.dat Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 1 White 44675.dat Slope Brick Curved Top 2 x 2 x 1 with Dimples 1 White 41855.dat Slope Brick Rounded 2 x 2 x 0.667 1 White 2340.dat Tail 4 x 1 x 3 1 Trans-Green 98138.dat Tile 1 x 1 Round with Groove 1 Trans-Red 98138.dat Tile 1 x 1 Round with Groove 1 Trans-Red 3070b.dat Tile 1 x 1 with Groove 1 White 24246.dat Tile 1 x 1 with Rounded End 2 Lt-Bluish-Gray 41770.dat Wing 2 x 4 Left 2 Lt-Bluish-Gray 41769.dat Wing 2 x 4 Right 1 Lt-Bluish-Gray 3933.dat Wing 4 x 8 Left 1 Lt-Bluish-Gray 3934.dat Wing 4 x 8 Right

Design and Instructions

by Christopher Deck Hello everybody, I am very excited about this mini-model building session in this issue of BrickJournal, which is all about planes! This year is a special one for all plane fans like me, as we are celebrating the jubilee of the famous Boeing 747, more commonly known as “Jumbo Jet”. It’s already been 50 years since 1969, when the huge passenger plane had its first flight!

A perfect opportunity for an oxymoron—and a model: a Mini Jumbo. So, let’s get started!

The plane’s most distinctive design feature is of course its hump of the upper deck sitting on the main deck level.

The most convenient way to build this was to use two different curved slopes, which both feature a tapering towards the top. In this way, they go along very well with the rounded bricks for the main cabin.

Another tricky point when building miniature planes is the sweep back of modern planes’ wings. To achieve this without generating unnecessary gaps between wing and main hull, the use of hinge plates is a common method.

This especially works well for the rear wings as they cling to the space nose which perfectly resembles the auxiliary power unit of the plane.

The Mini Jumbo comes complete with landing gear for which we use minifigure roller skates. The white/ gray color scheme with the red highlighting line has been chosen as these were the colors of the first Jumbo prototype—the “City of Everett”.

I really hope you will build this model and will have as much fun with it as I had. I wish you happy building, and see you next time!

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Community

From LEGO Education:

Introducing SPIKE Prime!

Article by Joe Meno Photography provided by LEGO Education

One of the many attendees of the New York SPIKE Prime event.

A SPIKE Prime model - the Breakdancer!

On April 2, 2019, a LEGO set was unveiled at an event in New York City. However, this set was announced from LEGO Education, the branch of the company that produces the MINDSTORMS EV3 set and more recently, the WeDo Educational set. The name of the set? SPIKE Prime. Like its predecessors, the set creates a hands-on approach to both building with LEGO bricks and elements and coding.

As a completely new design in both hardware and software, SPIKE Prime is a set that is between the WeDo 2.0 and MINDSTORMS EV3 in difficulty. For those students who have worked with the WeDo 2.0, SPIKE Prime adds more powered options to their builds and the Scratch language to their programming base. From there, students also progress to Python, which is a popular programming language that is used worldwide and in real-world settings.

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SPIKE Prime builds not only LEGO creations, but also confidence in students. While targeted to middle school, the set is designed to reach all levels of learners and to be inclusive, intuitive and naturally adaptive with its physical and digital creative approach. With the hands-on projects

and lessons, SPIKE Prime lets students engage in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) learning in an immediate and exciting environment.

Esben Stærk Jørgensen, president of LEGO Education, said: “We are seeing a challenge globally in middle school children, typically aged 11-14. At that age, children start losing their confidence in learning. A Confidence in Learning Poll (fielded by Harris Insights and Analytics and online at https://theharrispoll.com/global-confidence-poll-executivesummary/) data shows that most students say if they failed at something once, they don’t want to try again. With SPIKE Prime and the lessons featured in the SPIKE app, these children will be inspired to experiment with different solutions, try new things and ultimately become more confident learners. And for teachers, time is the ultimate barrier. The lesson plans, resources and models make it so easy for teachers to integrate SPIKE Prime into the classroom.”

Each SPIKE Prime set has 523 pieces which can be used to build many different creations, including corresponding STEAM lesson plans that were created by and for educators to help them bring more hands-on STEAM learning into their curriculum and get students more engaged and excited about STEAM subjects. LEGO Education and the LEGO Group have also created 11 new innovative elements for the LEGO System in Play, which will be first seen with SPIKE Prime. These new elements include an innovative integrator brick, which allows for building together with both the LEGO Technic and the LEGO System platforms, further expanding systematic creativity and the building possibilities.

BrickJournal had a few questions about the system and talked to LEGO Education about them: BrickJournal: What was the reasoning behind the creation of SPIKE Prime? Was it meant as an easier version of MINDSTORMS, basically, and if so, what did SPIKE Prime simplify?

LEGO Education: SPIKE Prime was created to help grow confidence in STEAM subjects among middle school teachers and students, whatever their starting point. SPIKE Prime is one of the easiest STEAM learning products for teachers to bring into the classroom—we know it can be daunting for teachers to find the right solution and then build lesson plans, so we’ve done the work for the teachers,

The SPIKE Prime Competitive Robot, using parts from the Expansion Set.

providing lesson plans and resources in the SPIKE App. SPIKE Prime is unique in that it combines physical building with beloved LEGO bricks, digital skills with Scratchbased coding, and such a wide array of standards-aligned curriculum designed to be relatable and make learning joyful for middle schoolers and to build their confidence.

SPIKE Prime is complementary to our learning continuum and WeDo2.0 will continue to serve the primary school audience, while MINDSTORMS EV3 Education will serve middle school as well as high school students.

Another model from the set.

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Building and programming SPIKE Prime.

What were some of the challenges that were encountered in the design phase?

We have had a design focus on making learning and creating with STEAM technology products easier and fun for students to engage with—we call this design principle “Easy Build with Technology”. With this mission, we have had to design ergonomic and versatile technology components like sensors and motors to be incredibly robust and simple to connect together and start learning through play with.

Another challenge we have faced, and we believe addressed well, is making sure that our models and lessons have strong learning outcomes and are able to be completed in 45 and 90 minute classes. We have worked through a lot of iterations and classroom experience tests to design impactful lessons and models.

Concerning the new parts (especially the ‘biscuit’), how were they designed? As in, were parts designed specifically for a need, or just to make builds easier?

Another example of building with the set.

Across LEGO, as designers design and build amazing models and creations, we always have ideas for improving the build experience. For SPIKE Prime, parts were designed and tested for making builds easier, and also providing a cool function like changing direction easily.

Why isn’t there a full display?

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We opted for a smaller display to make the product affordable for as many schools as possible.

The design language (shapes) of the set are different with SPIKE Prime than with other motorized sets. What was the reasoning behind the design changes to the sensors and motors?

We wanted to bring the joy of building with technology to kids and builders with different skill levels. This led us to designing technology elements as well as LEGO Technic elements to make it simple and fun for everyone to quickly build creations with behaviors and functions. The new SP motors and sensors have Technic hole connections on all sides to provide children with build options to bring all of their creations alive.

Will the parts in the SPIKE Prime set eventually get into the Technic palette of elements, or will these be exclusive to the sets?

Parts of the SPIKE Prime set could be a part of the Technic portfolio eventually, but we do not know at this time which products or sets could use them.

How did SPIKE Prime get its name?

This product provides a creative SPIKE to bring students and confidence to a higher level. It gives teachers and students a jolt of energy and electrified learning.

When was it decided to go with a Scratch-based language as opposed to the block-based interface that is in BOOST and WeDO 2.0?

We are always looking at how to make our LEGO Education products more accessible to every student, and so we always look at our full ecosystem of programming languages and technology that can help reach the most students. The Scratch-based language allows students to gain confidence in coding with a simple, graphical language—kids are able to easily move blocks of coding around to create movement.

What are the advantages of this change?

Because Scratch-based coding is a language that many students are already familiar with, it creates an easy experience to get started.

There is a 32 MB capacity to the SPIKE Prime brick. What part of a program loaded to SPIKE Prime will take up the most memory?

Sounds will take up the most space.

Is there any limit to the number of programs that can be loaded on the SPIKE Prime brick?

We have 20 slots for programs numbered 0-19, so users can have a maximum of 20 programs on their hubs.

SPIKE Prime is one of the building platforms allowed in FIRST® LEGO League this year. In the US, you will be able to pre-order the set now at https://education.lego.com/en-us/products/lego-education-spike-prime-set/45678 or by scanning the QR code at left.

SPIKE Prime will be available for purchase in all markets in August 2019, with SPIKE Prime priced at $329.95 USD and the SPIKE Prime Expansion Kit (with an additional large motor and color sensor) priced at $99.95 USD. Getting to know SPIKE Prime at the New York event.

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Motors SPIKE Prime comes with three motors that use LEGO Power Functions 2 (LPF2) cable connectors. Two are medium motors, and one is a large motor.

The motors have absolute encoders, so their zero position is marked on the motor frame and hub.

Sensors

SPIKE Prime Hub

SPIKE Prime comes with three sensors that use LEGO Power Functions 2 (LPF2) cable connectors. They are • Touch sensor • Color/light sensor • Ultrasonic-based distance sensor

The SPIKE Prime Hub is the brain of SPIKE Prime, which runs all of the functions of a creation. Its features are: • 5x5 LED Matrix white display • Six input/output ports • Six-axis Gyro Sensor (three-axis accelerometer and three-axis gyroscope) • Three-button navigation, including light interface • Speaker • USB and Bluetooth connectivity • Technic build geometry to allow easy integration into models

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A Closer Look at SPIKE Prime!

SPIKE Prime Elements There are a total of 523 elements in the SPIKE Prime set, including the electronic parts. Of those parts, 11 new parts were created for the set, of which you see a few in the trays. New parts seen here include a caster unit with a white ball, 2x4 LEGO bricks with three Technic axle holes, 3x3 Technic beam ‘biscuits’ (seen beside the caster), wire clips, and a new gear size (28-tooth). Parts not seen are two new frame sizes and wheels.

For storage there are two trays that fit in a larger storage container. The parts are bagged per tray compartment, so initial sorting is not needed—just load and go!

SPIKE Prime App The LEGO Education SPIKE App is a coding environment for the SPIKE Prime Hub. Based on the Scratch language, the app allows student to bring their creations and models to life! For teachers, the app will have 33 lesson plans, most which will be optimized for 45-minute classes and designed to make building and using SPIKE Prime quick and easy.

The app will be available in iOS, Chrome, Windows 10, Mac, and Android.

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Review

Building LEGO Dream Cars with Mattia Zamboni Review by Ashley Glennon Art provided by Mattia Zamboni

A Shelby Cobra 427.

You may not be able to afford them, but at least you can build them from LEGO bricks! This is the declaration that opens Mattia Zamboni’s and George Panteleon’s latest book, How to Build Dream Cars with LEGO Bricks.

BrickJournal readers have told us they really like building instructions and eye-popping models. Apparently Zamboni and Panteleon have heard this, too, because this book really delivers. As the title implies, this book offers step-by-step instructions on how to build a dozen dreamy supercars.

Readers will learn to build a Porsche 911 Turbo, a few Ferraris, a Datsun 240Z, a Mustang Fastback, a Dodge Charger, a Corvette Stingray, and the Lamborghini Countach pictured on the cover. Some additional gems in this book are the Ford GT, a Pagani Zonda, a Bugatti Atlantic, and my favorite, a 1965 Shelby Cobra.

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What is particularly interesting about this collection is that it is very diverse and does not just revisit the same old versions of Ferraris and Corvettes. And who would have ever guessed that a Pagani Zonda, Bugatti Atlantic or Shelby Cobra could be rendered so exquisitely at such a small scale? This is where Zamboni and Panteleon excel. They have managed to capture every curve, seam, cowling, fin

A line-up of all the cars in the book.

and shape of the original cars and have reduced them down to six-inch models. In auto-styling parlance, this is called “design language,” and they nail it using carefully selected LEGO elements.

BrickJournal specifically asked Zamboni about the selection of vehicles in the book and how he and co-author George Panteleon decided on such a unique collection.

“I knew George Panteleon (ZetoVince) from my previous book Tiny LEGO Wonders, since he provided me with a couple of amazing models. At the same time I knew his great passion for cars, and the few he already built in the right scale were the best evidence that he was definitely up to the task. I therefore contacted him and proposed him to join me in this journey.

“We started with a few models he already built before the book, such as the Countach and Ford GT. In order to choose the models to include, I actually started to write down a list of what I personally considered “dream cars”. In parallel I did the same with a few friends of mine passionate about cars, to get some external input and update my list.

And eventually I did the same with George who was very open in this sense, but pretty much agreed about the list I consolidated by then. Eventually we decided that the most important criteria was that no matter how cool or epic a car

can be, it had to be instantly recognizable. It didn’t make sense to include a specific car just because we love it, if the LEGO model wasn’t impressive.

“I want to take the opportunity here to thank George for his outstanding commitment and his very professional work.

He would spend sleepless nights and countless retries until he would get the perfect shape of a specific corner of a car.

I admire him for that and for the great attention to even the tiniest detail. And I still have very nice memories about the hours spent debating about tiny details like the mufflers, the rear lights, or the rims of a specific models.”

This book is packed with beautiful renderings of each LEGO vehicle and every light, shadow and glimmer seems thoughtfully placed. Step-by-step building instructions are crisply printed against a black background which seems to let each step leap off the page. This softcover book is printed entirely in color and has some heft to it, measuring in at around 9 by 11 inches and 200+ pages. This ultimately means this is a fairly large book compared to many other LEGO building books, and its size is helpful since it yields large format instructions.

Zamboni told BrickJournal that he wanted the LEGO car’s colors to pop out from the pages and appreciated that we noticed.

Alternate color treatments of the Ford GTI (below) and Porsche 911 Turbo (right).

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Some examples of the instructions in the book.

“The only two colors which work fine with every other color are black and white. However, with black you can get the best contrast and pop effect, mostly with colors like yellow, red, blue, and white. Of course, this made it somewhat challenging with black models like the Bugatti or the Charger—and even more on the stage for the rendering, in which you have to very carefully position every single light.

“In addition, I decided to follow a very strict color scheme.

I didn’t want to include more than just a couple of colors (plus gradients) for each page and chapter. That is why the real car’s renderings have black and white backgrounds. I wanted to really focus on the car and not the background.”

Each model building session kicks off with a brief history of the vehicle and a rundown of each car’s specifications.

Next, the reader is shown a spectacular full-spread LEGO rendering of the car they will build, and you will swear it’s a physical model. Some BrickJournal readers may recall that Zamboni is a 3D computer graphics expert, and for those not yet familiar with Zamboni’s rendering abilities, prepare to be floored. After the complete set of building instructions for each vehicle, Zamboni offers a few alternate renderings of the vehicle in different colors, and occasionally offers a bonus step or two.

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This is not Zamboni’s first book experience, and luckily for purchasers of How to Build Dream Cars, Zamboni has

solved a previously noted pain point: Acquiring the right parts. To this end, Zamboni and his publisher have come up with a gracefully simple solution. On the start page of each instruction set, there’s a QR code and printed URL that points the reader to a download that yields a parts list PDF, a parts list Excel file, a video tutorial, and Bricklink want list. This convenient zipfile is available in both PC and Macintosh formats. Other authors, take note: This should be the new standard. Acquiring parts is now exponentially easier thanks to these files.

Even if you are not an exotic car fan, this book offers some great, hands-on building practice for delivering unique angles and studs-not-on-top mechanisms. The Datsun 240Z yields an impressive angled roofline, as does the Porsche 911 Turbo.

The sidewalls and front end of the Shelby Cobra are pure genius and the curvy plate-stacking on the Bugatti is amazing. Any of these cars would look great near the new LEGO 10264 Corner Garage or along any minifig scale main street.

If you happen to be an exotic car fan or fans of the LEGO Speed Champion series, you are going to love this book.

While none of the cars in the How to Build Dream Cars book will seat an entire minifig, many of the cars accommodate a minifig head or pair of heads. Despite this, these cars look fantastic alongside other Speed Champions models, and the authors rightly traded off spectacular design over minifig comfort.

And we also asked Zamboni if he had a favorite model in the book, and learned a little more about his personal car preferences: “It was not easy to choose at all. I like every model that made it into the book. However, generally speaking, I am more a muscle car type of guy, and therefore at the end of the day my favorite is probably the Dodge Charger. This car was in my dream list since the beginning of the project, but just at the last minute (when I already had lost hope), George was able to pull off the outstanding model he built, and this probably made it even more special. Not randomly in the real world, I personally own a Dodge Challenger!”

For the purest of LEGO collectors and automotive fans, Zamboni and Panteleon’s book can also be found in an Italian, hard-bound edition titled Auto da sogno con i mattoncini LEGO. This edition is sure to look good in the passenger seat of your actual Ferrari (or Dodge Charger or Challenger) being held by a leggy supermodel. Until then, back in America, How to Build Dream Cars with LEGO Bricks is available from Amazon.com or your favorite bookseller.

ISBN-13: 978-1-68412-539-5

And a hint?

To this end, Zamboni shared his perspective on scale and building feasibility.

“The chosen scale was dictated by parts availability and practical reasons. The goal for this book was indeed to include about 10-12 models, so in order to keep the book’s size reasonable, the models’ scale couldn’t be more than 200-300 pieces per model. Concurrently the scale is driven by parts availability, especially tires and windshields. By combining the above criteria, the size had to be in the range of LEGO’s Speed Champions series. Personally I would have preferred going bigger, similar to LEGO’s F40 or the recent Mustang, but for this book that was clearly not an option. The scale would probably be defined as minifig scale, however not all the models can fit a minifig. Actually, to be precise, most of them can only include a part of a minifig. The real priority for the book indeed was to create the most accurate cars in this scale. That’s why, for all the models which happen to be able to include a part of the minifig, this has been indicated as a ‘bonus step’ after the car’s completion. But it is also very important to mention that for several cars this has been done in a realistic way, by including two minifigures as it should be.”

BrickJournal likes to share exclusive information with our readers, so we asked Zamboni if this book contained any secrets: “One cool trivia is that the book contains only renders of the models included in the book. This is valid for all of the renders except one! At the end of the book there is a render of an intriguing blue pick-up truck. Why is it there? A fan stepped forward and suggested his theory. ‘The pick-up is an F-150 Raptor and it hints about an upcoming book…’.

All we can say is that only time will tell, but on one thing he is right: It is indeed a Raptor!”

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BRICKJOURNAL #51

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BRICKJOURNAL #41

Space-themed LEGO creations of LIA CHAN, 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Orion space plane by NICK DEAN, and Pre-Classic Space builder CHRIS GIDDENS! Plus: JARED K. BURKS’ minifigure customizing, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

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BRICKJOURNAL #24

Builder CALE LEIPHART shows how to get started building trains and train layouts, instructions on building microscale trains by editor JOE MENO, building layouts with the members of the Pennsylvania LEGO Users Group, fan-built LEGO monorails minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, microscale building by CHRISTOPHER DECK, “You Can Build It”, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #46

More with train builder CALE LEIPHART, updated train layouts and models from the PENNLug, BRICK MODEL RAILROADER (a new LEGO Train fan website that launched this year), and more locomotive action!

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BRICKJOURNAL #56

LIFE-SIZE LEGO and what it takes to build them (besides a ton of LEGO brick)! HELEN SHAM’s sculptures of giant everyday items, MAGNUS LAUGHLO’s GI Joe®-inspired models, military builds by ERIC ONG, plus “Bricks In The Middle” comic by KEVIN HINKLE, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifig Customization by JARED K. BURKS, & more!

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BRICKJOURNAL #23

Custom creations from a long time ago and far, far away! JACOB CARPENTER’s Imperial Star Destroyer, MARK KELSO’s Invisible Hand, interview with SIMON MACDONALD about building Star Wars costume props with LEGO elements, history of the LEGO X-Wing, plus minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, “You Can Build It” instructions, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #37

Custom ships by ERIC DRUON, incredible galactic layouts by builder AC PIN, a look at the many droid creations built by LEGO fans—truly, the LEGO Force has awakened! Plus JARED K. BURKS on minifigure customizing, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons by DAMIEN KEE, & more!

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BRICKJOURNAL #15

Feature editor NATHAN BRYAN spotlights mecha builders such as SAITO YOSHIKAZU, TAKAYUKI TORII, SUKYU and others!

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BRICKJOURNAL #40

Build giant robots and mechs with BENJAMIN CHEH MING HANN and KELVIN LOW, and SETH HIGGINS shows us his amazing transforming LEGO robots! And even cyborgs love Minifig Customization by JARED K. BURKS, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions

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Secrets and tricks of building mechs with some of the best mecca builders in the world! Interviews with BENJAMIN CHEH, KELVIN LOW, LU SIM, FREDDY TAM, DAVID LIU, and SAM CHEUNG! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

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BRICKJOURNAL #11

“Racers” theme issue, with building tips on race cars by the ARVO BROTHERS, interview with LEGO RACERS designer ANDREW WOODMAN, LEGO FORMULA ONE RACING, TECHNIC SPORTS CAR building, event reports, MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION by JARED K. BURKS, MICRO BUILDING, builder spotlights, LEGO HISTORY, and more!

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BRICKJOURNAL #28

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TECHNIC

BRICKJOURNAL #21

LINO MARTINS & NATHAN PROUDLOVE of LUGNuts share secrets behind their LEGO car creations, and present TECHNIC SUPER-CAR MODELS by PAUL BORATKO III and other top builders! Plus custom instructions by TIM GOULD & CHRISTOPHER DECK, minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” section, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #38

LEGO car builders STEPHAN SANDER, JORDANIAN FIRAS ABU-JABER, and ANDREA LATTANZIO! Plus: Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, AFOLs by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-bystep “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd Pop Art

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DISNEY®

BRICKJOURNAL #9

LEGO® DISNEY SETS, with features on the Disney LEGO sets of the past (MICKEY and MINNIE) and present (TOY STORY and PRINCE OF PERSIA)! We also present Disney models built by LEGO fans, and a look at the newest Master Build model at WALT DISNEY WORLD, plus articles and instructions on building and customization, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #44

THEME PARK ISSUE! ERIK JONES’ custom LEGO version of Cinderella Castle, STÉPHANE DELY’s Disneyland Paris Sleeping Beauty Castle, and JOHN RUDY’s brick versions of your favorite theme park rides! Plus “You Can Build It” instructions

by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #29

PAUL BORATKO and editor JOE MENO diagram instructions on adding functions to your models, shop-talk with LEGO Technic designers, and more creations moving at top speed! Plus Minifigure Customization

by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #49

GEOFF GRAY explores Technic history, JOE MENO interviews former LEGO Set Designer SØREN HOLM about the classic Technic Space Shuttle, MICHAEL BROWN shows off his Technic-scale AH-64, and more! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

CASTLES

BRICKJOURNAL #25

MEDIEVAL CASTLES! Top LEGO® Castle builders present their creations, including BOB CARNEY’s detailed Neuschwanstein Castle, plus articles on building and detailing castles of your own! Also: JARED BURKS on minifigure customization, AFOLs by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-bystep “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #45

FEMALE LEGO BUILDERS! US Architectural builder ANURADHA PEHRSON, British Microscale builder FERNANDA RIMINI, US Bionicle builder BREANN SLEDGE, and Norwegian Town builder BIRGITTE JONSGARD! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, & more!

SCULPTURE

BRICKJOURNAL #12

Back-to-school sculptures by NATHAN SAWAYA, LEGO builder MARCOS BESSA’s creations, ANGUS MACLANE’s CubeDudes, a Nepali Diorama by JORDAN SCHWARTZ, instructions to build a school bus, MINIFIG CUSTOMIZATION by JARED K. BURKS, how a POWER MINERS model became one for ATLANTIS, building standards, and much more!

BRICKJOURNAL #18

Two JAPANESE LEGO FAN EVENTS, plus a look at JAPAN’S SACRED LEGO LAND, Nasu Highland Park—the site of BrickFan events and a pilgrimage site for many Japanese LEGO fans. Also, a feature on JAPAN’S TV CHAMPIONSHIP OF LEGO, a look at the CLICKBRICK LEGO SHOPS in Japan, plus how to get into TECHNIC BUILDING, LEGO EDUCATION, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #31

Building LEGO bricks WITH character, with IAIN HEATH and TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Manga-inspired creations of MIKE DUNG, sculptures by Taiwanese Brick Artist YO YO CHEN, Minifigure Customization by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #52

Russian builder TIMOFEY TKACHEV, plus what it takes to become a LEGO Certified Professional (an elite group of builders officially recognized by LEGO), with New York’s SEAN KENNEY and Australian RYAN McNAUGHT! Also: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

BRICKJOURNAL #54

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY: HSINWEI CHI and his revolutionary LEGO animals and giant robots! We also declassify other top LEGO builders’ creations, including MICHAEL BROWN’s Technic-scale F-18 Hornet!

Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

LEGO®, the Minifigure, and the Brick and Knob configurations are trademarks of the LEGO Group of Companies. BrickJournal is not affiliated with The LEGO Group. All characters shown are TM & © their respective owners.

SUPER-HEROES

BRICKJOURNAL #20

Behind-the-scenes of the DC and Marvel Comics sets, plus a feature on GREG HYLAND, the artist of the superhero comic books in each box! Also, other superhero work by ALEX SCHRANZ and our cover artist OLIVIER CURTO. Plus, JARED K. BURKS’ regular column on minifigure customization, building tips, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #32

LEGO ARTISTRY with builder/photographer CHRIS McVEIGH; mosaic builders BRIAN KORTE, DAVE WARE and DAVE SHADDIX; and sculptors SEAN KENNEY (about his nature models) and ED DIMENT (about a full-size bus stop built with LEGO bricks)!

Plus Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions, and more!

GAMING

BRICKJOURNAL #34

TOMMY WILLIAMSON on the making of his YouTube sensation BATMAN VS SUPERMAN, BRANDON GRIFFITH’S COMICBRICKS PROJECT recreates iconic comic book covers out of LEGO, JARED BURKS and his custom Agents of SHIELD minifigs, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, and more!

MINDSTORMS & ROBOTICS

BRICKJOURNAL #5

MINDSTORMS 10th ANNIVERSARY at LEGO HEADQUARTERS, Pixar’s ANGUS MACLANE on LEGO in filmmaking, the LEGO Group’s past with the DIRECTOR OF LEGO’S IDEA HOUSE, event reports, how SEAN KENNEY’s LEGO creations ended up on NBC’S 30 ROCK television show, instructions and spotlights on builders, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #33

MINDSTORMS EV3 builders MARCANDRE BAZERGUI and ANDY MILLUZZI, designer LEE MAGPILI, CHRIS GIDDENS with his amazing robot sculptures, Minifig Customization by JARED BURKS, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, other looks at MINDSTORMS building, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #42

How schools and AFOLs build with the new WeDo, FIRST LEGO LEAGUE’s 2016 season explored (with national competitions at LEGOLand California), and robotics builders the Seshan Brothers take MINDSTORMS to the next level! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, & more!

ARCHITECTURE & MICROSCALE

BRICKJOURNAL #43

IMAGINE RIGNEY’s Bioshock builds, NICK JENSEN’s characters and props from HALO and other video games, and GamerLUG member SIMON LIU builds LEGO versions of video game characters, spaceships and more! Plus: “You Can Build It” instructions

by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #53

TYLER CLITES and SEAN MAYO show you LEGO hacks to twink and juice your creations! Also, see big bad game-inspired models by BARON VON BRUNK, and Pokemon-inspired models by LI LI! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

UNDERSEA

BRICKJOURNAL #10

Looks at the creation of LEGO’S ATLANTIS sets, plus a spotlight on a fan-created underwater theme, the SEA MONKEYS, with builder FELIX GRECO! Also, a report on the LEGO WORLD convention in the NETHERLANDS, builder spotlights, stepby-step building instructions, minifigure customization by JARED BURKS, LEGO history, and more!

DINOSAURS

BRICKJOURNAL #47

Builder MITSURU NIKAIDO shows us undersea creatures and organic builds!

Then jump aboard MARCELLO DeCICCO’s minifigure-scale warships! See PEDRO NASCIMENTO’s amazing architectural creations! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

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TwoMorrows.

BRICKJOURNAL #30

LEGO ARCHITECTURE with JONATHAN LOPES, a microscale model of Copenhagen

by ULRIK HANSEN, and a look at the LEGO MUSEUM being constructed in Denmark! Plus Minifigure Customization

by JARED BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art by TOMMY WILLIAMSON, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #35

HISTORY IN LEGO BRICKS! LEGO pro RYAN McNAUGHT on his LEGO Pompeii and other projects, military builder DAN SISKIND on his BrickMania creations, and LASSE VESTERGARD about his historical building, JARED K. BURKS on minifigure customizing, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #36

JUSTIN McMILLAN’s micro house and other buildings, a look at the MICROSCALE Standard by TwinLUG, and featuring some of the best microscopic LEGO work from around the world, plus JARED K. BURKS’ minifigure customizing, step-bystep “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, and more!

BRICKJOURNAL #39

WILLIAM PUGH discusses building prehistoric creatures, a LEGO Jurassic World by DIEGO MAXIMINO PRIETO ALVAREZ, and dino bones by MATT SAILORS! Plus: Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, DIY Fan Art by BrickNerd TOMMY WILLIAMSON, and more!

TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 USA 919-449-0344 E-mail:

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Community Ads

FOR SALE!

ORIGINAL MINIFIGURE COMIC BOOK COVER REPRODUCTIONS

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Commission LEGO™ illustrator, Greg Hyland, to draw a full-size, production-quality recreation of any Marvel or DC comic book cover using LEGO™ Minifigures!

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Artwork will be a black & white ink drawing on 11”x17” comic book illustration board.

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Email greg@lethargiclad.com for |NCREDIBLE HULK #181 information on pricing and timeframe.

Last Word This was a fun issue to do—thanks to Ralph Savelsberg for building the X-29 (that’s my favorite plane design, if you were wondering). Also, thanks to all the other contributors to this issue, including Kevin Hinkle for sending me an emergency cartoon, since I forgot to ask Greg Hyland for one!

The next issue is one many have been waiting for me to revisit: Star Wars! I’ve got a pile of people and builds to go through and contact—some people you may be familiar with, and some will be new. Either way, it’s going to be another fun issue!

And I may be teasing a project that I have been working on...

Til then, Build on!

That Joe Meno Guy Yeah, sometimes I feel like this...

by Kevin A. Hinkle

80

All characters TM & © their respective owners.

BOOKS FROM TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING

MONSTER MASH

GROOVY

MARK VOGER’s time-trip back to 1957-1972, to explore the CREEPY, KOOKY MONSTER CRAZE, when monsters stomped into America’s mainstream!

A psychedelic look at when Flower Power bloomed in Pop Culture. Revisits ‘60s era’s ROCK FESTIVALS, TV, MOVIES, ART, COMICS & CARTOONS!

(192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $11.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-064-9

(192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $13.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-080-9

THE MLJ COMPANION

Documents the complete history of ARCHIE COMICS’ super-heroes known as the “Mighty Crusaders”, with in-depth examinations of each era of the characters’ history: The GOLDEN AGE (beginning with the Shield, the first patriotic super-hero), the SILVER AGE (spotlighting the campy Mighty Comics issues, and The Fly and Jaguar), the BRONZE AGE (the Red Circle line, and the !mpact imprint published by DC Comics), up to the MODERN AGE, with its Dark Circle imprint!

(288-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $34.95 (Digital Edition) $14.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-067-0

SWAMPMEN

LOU SCHEIMER

CREATING THE FILMATION GENERATION Biography of the co-founder of Filmation Studios, which for over 25 years brought the Archies, Shazam, Isis, He-Man, and others to TV and film!

(288-page paperback with COLOR) $29.95 (Digital Edition) $14.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-044-1

AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES: 1950s-1990s 1940-44 & 1945-49 coming in 2019!

OR -COL FULLDCOVER HAR RIES SE nting me f docu ecade o d y! each s histor ic m o c

MUCK-MONSTERS OF THE COMICS

SWAMPMEN dredges up Swamp Thing, Man-Thing, Heap, and other creepy man-critters of the 1970s bayou, through the memories of the artists and writers who created them!

Features BERNIE WRIGHTSON, ALAN MOORE, MIKE PLOOG, FRANK BRUNNER, STEVE GERBER, STEVE BISSETTE, RICK VEITCH, and others, with a new FRANK CHO cover!

(272-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $36.95 (Digital Edition) $13.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-073-1

KIRBY & LEE: STUF’ SAID!

The creators of the Marvel Universe’s own words, in chronological order, from fanzine, magazine, radio, and TV interviews, painting a picture of JACK KIRBY and STAN LEE’s relationship— why it succeeded, where it deteriorated, and when it eventually failed.

Includes a study of their solo careers after 1970, and recollections from STEVE DITKO, WALLACE WOOD, & JOHN ROMITA SR. (160-page trade paperback) $24.95 (Digital Edition) $11.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-086-1

MIKE GRELL:

LIFE IS DRAWING WITHOUT AN ERASER

A career-spanning tribute to the master storyteller, told in Grell’s own words, and those of colleagues PAUL LEVITZ, DAN JURGENS, DENNY O’NEIL, MIKE GOLD, and MARK RYAN. Full of illustrations from every facet of his long career, including SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, WARLORD, GREEN LANTERN, GREEN ARROW: THE LONGBOW HUNTERS, JON SABLE, STARSLAYER, SHAMAN’S TEARS, and more!

(160-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $27.95 (Digital Edition) $12.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-088-5

(192-page trade paperback with COLOR) $21.95 (Digital Edition) $9.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-057-1

(176-page LIMITED EDITION HARDCOVER) $37.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-087-8

COMIC BOOK IMPLOSION

JACK KIRBY’S DINGBAT LOVE

In 1978, DC Comics implemented its “DC Explosion” with many creative new titles, but just weeks after its launch, they pulled the plug, leaving stacks of completed comic book stories unpublished. This book marks the 40th Anniversary of “The DC Implosion”, one of the most notorious events in comics, with an exhaustive oral history from the creators involved (JENETTE KAHN, PAUL LEVITZ, LEN WEIN, MIKE GOLD, and others), plus detailed analysis of how it changed the landscape of comics forever!

(136-page trade paperback with COLOR) $21.95 (Digital Edition) $10.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-085-4

HERO-A-GO-GO!

MICHAEL EURY looks at comics’ 1960s CAMP AGE, when spies liked their wars cold and their women warm, and TV’s Batman shook a mean cape!

The final complete, unpublished JACK KIRBY stories in existence, presented in cooperation with DC COMICS! Unused 1970s DINGBATS OF DANGER STREET, TRUE-LIFE DIVORCE, and SOUL LOVE stories, reproduced from Kirby’s original pencil and inked art!

(160-page FULL COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $14.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-091-5

NEW 1990s VOLUME NOW SHIPPING!

TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 USA

TwoMorrows.

The Future of Pop History.

Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com

Relive The Pop Culture You Grew Up With!

Remember when Saturday morning television was our domain, and ours alone? When tattoos came from bubble gum packs, Slurpees came in superhero cups, and TV heroes taught us to be nice to each other?

Those were the happy days of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties— our childhood—and that is the era of TwoMorrows’ new magazine RETROFAN!

#5: Interviews with MARK HAMILL and Greatest American Hero’s WILLIAM KATT! Blast off with JASON OF STAR COMMAND! Stop by the MUSEUM OF POPULAR CULTURE! Poke fun at a campy BATMAN COMIC BOOK! Plus: “The First Time I Met Tarzan,” MAJOR MATT MASON, Moon Landing Mania, SNUFFY SMITH at 100 with cartoonist JOHN ROSE, TV Dinners, Celebrity Crushes, and more fun, fab features!

NOW SHIPPING! #6: Interviews with crazy creepster SVENGOOLIE and Eddie Munster himself, BUTCH PATRICK! Call on the original Saturday Morning Ghost Busters, with BOB BURNS! Uncover the nutty Naugas!

Plus: “My Life in the Twilight Zone,” “I Was a Teenage James Bond,” “My Letters to Famous People,” the ARCHIEDOBIE GILLIS connection, the PINBALL Hall of Fame, Super Collector DAVID MANDEL’s comic art collection, Alien action figures, the RUBIK’S CUBE fad, and more fun, fab features!

SHIPS SEPTEMBER 2019!

Please add $1 per issue for shipping in the US.

RETROFAN #1

RETROFAN #2

RETROFAN #3

RETROFAN #4

THE CRAZY, COOL CULTURE WE GREW UP WITH! LOU FERRIGNO interview, The Phantom in Hollywood, Filmation’s Star Trek cartoon, “How I Met Lon Chaney, Jr.”, goofy comic Zody the Mod Rob, Mego’s rare Elastic Hulk toy, RetroTravel to Mount Airy, NC (the real-life Mayberry), interview with BETTY LYNN (“Thelma Lou” of The Andy Griffith Show), TOM STEWART’s eclectic House of Collectibles, and Mr. Microphone!

HALLOWEEN! Horror-hosts ZACHERLEY, VAMPIRA, SEYMOUR, MARVIN, and an interview with our cover-featured ELVIRA! THE GROOVIE GOOLIES, BEWITCHED, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, and THE MUNSTERS! The long-buried Dinosaur Land amusement park! History of BEN COOPER HALLOWEEN COSTUMES, character lunchboxes, superhero VIEW-MASTERS, SINDY (the British Barbie), and more!

40th Anniversary interview with SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE director RICHARD DONNER, IRWIN ALLEN’s sci-fi universe, Saturday morning’s undersea adventures of Aquaman, horror and sci-fi zines of the Sixties and Seventies, Spider-Man and Hulk toilet paper, RetroTravel to METROPOLIS, IL (home of the Superman Celebration), SEA-MONKEYS®, FUNNY FACE beverages, Superman and Batman memorabilia, & more!

Interviews with the SHAZAM! TV show’s JOHN (Captain Marvel) DAVEY and MICHAEL (Billy Batson) Gray, the GREEN HORNET in Hollywood, remembering monster maker RAY HARRYHAUSEN, the way-out Santa Monica Pacific Ocean Amusement Park, a Star Trek Set Tour, SAM J. JONES on the Spirit movie pilot, British sci-fi TV classic THUNDERBIRDS, Casper & Richie Rich museum, the KING TUT fad, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95 • Now shipping!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95 • Now shipping!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95 • Now shipping!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95 • Now shipping!

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